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.MERICAN DAIRYING:: 



7 



A MANUAL FOR 



Butter and Cheese Makers, 



B-Y 



l/b/arnold, a. M., / 



Secretary of the American Dairymen s Association^ 

Dair}' Contributor to the New York Tribune, Lecturer on Dairj' 
Husbandry, &c. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. : 

RURAL HOME PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

1876. 



■b? 



'^ Y-^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, 

BY L. B. ARNOLD, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



James Lennox, Electrot>'per. 



REMARKS. 



Urgent demands and frequent inquiries for a thoroughly practi- 
cal work on American Dair3-ing, together with continuous ques- 
tions in regard to almost everything pertaining to the dairy, are the 
only apologies the author has to offer for this volume. In its prepa- 
ration the aim has been to meet the wants indicated by the num- 
erous inquiries that have from time to time reached him, and to 
so condense its contents as to keep its cost within the reach of 
every dairyman, and at the same time to give as full and fair an 
exposition as possible of the subject of dairying as developed by 
practical experience in factories and dairies in the United States 
and Canada. This effort has made it necessary to omit some 
details which might have been interesting, and often to be con- 
tent with enunciating a general principle or fact without accom- 
panying it with the evidence on which it was based. 

The work is mainly the result of the investigations, observations 
and experiences of the author. He has avoided borrowing from 
foreign sources, preferring to confine himself to that with which 
he was familiar and of which he had knowledge — to that which is 
adapted to dairy husbandry in America — instead of drawing from 
outside and often doubtful sources, and speculating on what is 
conjectured or not positively known. The work is, therefore, not 
a compilation, but essentially original and American. 

The author has also avoided adopting or recommending new 
and doubtful ideas and processes. If he cannot lead aright, he 
does not mean to lead astray. He is aware of the deficiencies and 
imperfections of the work, but he is not aware that it contains 
anything false or pernicious. Hoping it may meet the wants of 
the intelligent and rapidly increasing number of men and women 
engaged in the important interest of dairying in the United States 
and Canada, the author submits the result of his labors to their 
careful consideration and candid judgment. 

L. B. A. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



AMERICAN DAIRY SYSTEM, Origin and Development of " - ^^^i^ 

Associated Dairying, Influence of - - - . . jf 

Dairy Production, Extent of - - - - . . - it 

DAIRY FARMING, 20 

Soiling Dairy Cows, Importance of - - - - - - "i 

Dairying upon Exhausted Soils, Influence of - - . - 24 

Manure on Dairy Farms, Importance of - - - - - 24 

Liquid Excretions, Value of ---.., 24 

Products on Dairy Farms, Uniformity of - - - . - 25 
Dairying, Limit of- - - - - . . -oe 

DAIRY STOCK, - - • 2^ 

Dairy Breeds, Number of - - - - . . - 29 

Ayrshires, ---_.....„ 

Channel Island Cattle, ----.-. ^o 

Ayrshire Milk, Quality of - - - - - . .33 

Average Yield of Ayrshires, --.... -3 

Average Yield of Jerseys, - - - - - - -35 

Dutch or Holstein, ---.... ^g 

Jersey Cheese, Analysis of- - - . - . -36 

Average Yield of Dutch Cows, -,-.-. 36 

Shorthorns, - • - - - . . . -->q 

Butter Globules in Shorthorn Milk, Character of - - - li 

Other Breeds, 42 

Thoroughbreds, Deficient J^Jumbers of - - - - - 42 
Grades of Milking Breeds, Value of .-...,, 

HEREDITARY DESCENT, Laws of, as Applied to Grades, - - 45 

How Qualities are Acquired and Lost, - - - - - 45 

" Taking Back," When it Occurs, - - ... 45 

Law of Transmission, Importance of - - - - - 46 

Breeding from Similar Types, - - - - - - 46 

Milking Breeds, Perfection of - - - - - - -47 

Prepotency, First Efi"ects of --.... 48 

Old Creamer, Remarkable Yield, - - - - . - 48 

Jersey Cows, Remarkable Yield of - - - - 48 

Shorthorns Crossing on Native Stock, Efl"ect of - - - - 49 

Selecting Dairy Stock, --..... ^i 

Milking Quality, Illustration of Value, - - • - - 51 

Dairy Cows, Length of Period of Milking - - . . r. 

Dairy of A. L. Fish, - - - 53 

Comparative Reliability of Diff'erent Breeds, - - . . co 

DAIRY CATTLE, Annual Demand for - 54 

Where Selections Must Come From, - - - . - 54 

External Indications of Milking Capacity, - ■ - - - - 55 

Signs with No Significance, ------ 55 

Signs which have Significance, - - - . . - 56 

Milk Mirror, Value of ----.-. 57 

Skin, Significance of - - - - .♦. -62 

Cellular Tissue, Significance of - - - - - - 62 

Breeds for Special Purposes, - - - - - - - 63 

Small Breeds, Localities Adapted to - - . - . - 63 

Large Breeds, Localities Adapted to - - - - .63 

Poor Milker, Sample of (Illustrated), - - , . . - 64 



VI 11 



Table of Contents. 



FOOD FOR DAIRY STOCK, - 

Circumstances which Affect Quantity Required, 

Considerations of Cost, ... 

Considerations Afftcting Quality, 

Influence upon Milk Secretion, 

Effect of Sudden Changes in - - - 

Changing from Hay to Grass, 

Salt, Importance of . _ . - 

Soiling, When Advisable, . - - 

Fodder Corn, Value, . _ - . 

Fodder Corn, When to Use, 

Fodder Corn, Character of Composition, 

Lucern, _ . . . - 

Clover, Red 

Soiling, _ . _ . - 

Fall Feeding, ..... 

Bran, _-----• 

Feed and Milk, - - - - 

Early and Late Cut Hay, ... 
Food of Animals, . - - - - 

Corn Stalks and Straw, . - . , 

Daily Food of a Cow, .... 

Food and Housing, - 

Food at Time of Calving, 

Condition of Food for Bovine Digestion, - 

Digestive Apparatus of Ruminants, 

The Course of Food, . . - - ■ 

Feeding Meal, ..... 

Food Experiments, - - . - ■ 

Mode of Feeding of Ruminants, 

Digestion, ...... 

Food for Milch Cows, .... 

Water, .-.---■ 
Provisions for Water, .... 

THE DAIRY BARN, 

Barn of Peter Mulks, .... 
Provisions for Manure, . . . . 

Stables and Milking, .... 
Conveniences of Fodder, . . - . 

THE OCTAGON BARN, - - - - 

The Octagon Form, - - - . - 

Barn of E, W. Stewart, .... 

Adaptation of the Octagon, - - - . 

Concrete Wall, - - - - 

Water Lime Concrete for Foundations, 

Quick Lime Concrete, Proportions 

Concrete Wall, Cost of ^ - - - 

REARING CALVES, 

Flesh-forming Material, . . . . 

Substitutes for Natural Food, - 

MILK, 

Albuminoids in Milk, .... 

Fats in Milk, ------ 

Milk Magnified, . - - . . 

Specific Gravity, . . . . . 

Sugar of Milk, ..... 

Saline Constituents of Milk, 

Ash of Milk, Analj'sis of - - - 

Milk Secretion, . . . . . 

Mammary Gland, Development of - 
Mammary Gland, How Made, 
Mammary Gland, Arterial Branches of 
Lactiferous Vessels, Description of - 
Lactiferous Reservoirs, .... 



PAGE. 

- 65 
65 

- 65 
66 

- ^1 
68 

- 69 
69 

- 71 
71 

- 71 
72 

- 72 
73 

- 73 
75 

■ 75 
76 

- 77 
78 

- 80 
82 

- 83 
84 

- 86 
86 



102 

104 
106 
108 
108 
109 

"3 
114 
"5 
116 
117 
119 
119 
121 
122 
125 
128 
129 
130 
131 
131 
132 
132 
133 
133 
133 
134 
135 



Table of Contents. ix 

PAGE. 

MILK, How Cows Hold Up Milk, - • - - ... .136 

Central Tendon Described, ...... j^^ 

Divisions of Udder Dissimilar, ...... -^yj 

Divisions of Udder into Lobules and Follicles, ... j^g 

Gland Cells, How Formed, ....... 138 

Gland Cells, Changes in - - - '- - - - 139 

Gland Cells Similar to Milk Globules, - - . . . ,3^ 

Milk Globules, Pellicle of. Not Caseine, .... igg 

Milk Globules, Sometimes Fatless, ..... j^^q 

Milk Globules, with Broken Pellicle, - - . . . i^» 

Colustrum, Formation of- - - . . - - 141 

«Colustrum, Decrease of - - . - - . - 141 

Colustrum, Connection with Milk Globules, .... 142 

Colustrum, Analysis of - - . - - - . 143 

Colustrum, Affected by Feed, - . . . - - 144 

Udder Affected by Feed, ------ 145 

Milk, Changes in. After Parturition, . _ . . . 146 

Milk, Quality Affected by Food, ----- 146 

Tables Showing Changes of Milk by Distance of Time from Calving, 147 

Milk, Quality Affected by Imperfect Nutrition, - - - 149 

Milking Function, How to Prolong it, - - - - - 150 

Milk Secretion, Effect of on Blood. . - - . . 151 

Milk Secretion, by Nutrition, ...... 1^2 

Milk, Variation in Opacity of - - - - . - 153 

Milk, Solid Caseine in - - . - - - . . 153 

Milk, Quality Affected by Frequency of Milking, ... 154 

Milk, Quality Affected by Time between Milkings, - . 154 

Milk, Difference between First and Last Drawn, ... 154 

Milk, Loss of by Absorption, ...... j^g 

Milk, Affected by Breed, ------ 156 

Milk of Ayrshire, ----.... 157 

Milk of Jersey, - - - - - - - - 157 

Milk of Dutch Cow, - - - - . . . - 157 

Milk of Shorthorn, ....... 158 

Milking, -----.... 158 

Exciting Cows, ---..... 160 

Treatment of Cows while Milking, - . . . - 161 

Manner of Milking, ....... 162 

Regularity and Cleanliness of Milking, - . . . . 164 

To Remedy Hard Milking, - - . . . . ' 166 

Changes in Milk, ........ 167 

Decomposition, ........ j^q 

Influence of Air on Milk, - - - . . . - 171 

Odors of Milk, -..-.... 172 

Spontaneous Coagulation, -.--... 173 

Experiences in Keeping Milk, ---... 174 

The Constituents of Milk, --..... 175 

Exposure of Milk, ....... 176 

Microscopic Examination of Milk, --.... 178 

Milk from Unhealthy Sources, ._-... jgo 

Effect of Treatment, .--.-... 182 

-Odor of New Milk, - - . . . . - 183 

Evanescent Odors, - - - ' - . . . . 184 

Gases from Curds, ....... ^85 

Animal Odor, .--..... 187 

Animal Heat, ........ j88 

Milk in Warm Weather, ....... iqq 

Volatile Oil, - - ■ 191 

Feverishness, -.-...... 192 

Condition of Utensils, ----... 195 

Carrying Milk, ........ igg 

BUTTER MAKING, 198 

Vessels for Setting Milk, ---... - 199 

Cream, -■- . • . . . . . 203 



Table of Contents. 



PAGE. 

BUTTER MAKING, Specific Gravity of Cream, - - ■ - 205 

Raising Cream, -------- 206 

Butter Globules, -------- 207 

Fats in Cream, -------- 208 

Difference in Gravities of Milk, - - - - - - 210 

Effects of Temperature, - - - - - - - 211 

Skimming, --------- 215 

Preparing Cream for Churning, ------ 217 

When to Churn, -------- 218 

Flecks in Cream, -------- 219 

Coloring, --------- 221 

Churning. - - - - - - - - - 223 

Kinds of Churns, 226 

Blanchard Churn, -------- 227 

Temperature of Cream for Churning, - - - - - 228 

Washing Butter, -------- 230 

The Higgins Process of Manipulation, - - - - - 232 

Working Butler, -------- 233 

Butter Workers, -------- 234 

Salt for Butter, -------- 236 

Salting Butter, -------- 237 

Packing Butter, -------- 238 

Packages, --------- 239 

The Adams Package, ------- 243 

Milk Rooms, - - - - - - - - - 247 

A Model Dairy House, ------- 250 

A Dairy Spring House, ------- 251 

Prof. Wilkinson's Plan for Dairy House, - - . . 253 

Hardin's Method, -------- 257 

Plan of Ice House, - - 263 

BUTTER FACTORIES, 265 

West Bangor Factory, ------- 266 

Cooling Milk, --------- 270 

Pans Used, ...----- 272 

Skimming Milk, -------- 273 

Processes Employed in Factory Butter Making, - - - 274 

Temperatures, - ..-.-- 276 

Atmospheric Condensation on Cream, ----- 277 

Large Pan System, -- - - - - - - 278 

CREAMERIES, 279 

Elm Tree Creamery, -------- 282 

Harrison Creamery, .-.-.-- 283 

Purity of Pools, -------- 284 

Fast and Slow Cooling, ------- 285 

Economy in Labor, -------- 288 

Economy in Cream, ------- 290 

Winter Butter Making, - - - - - - - 291 

Whey Butter, -------- 292 

Principles of Cheese Making, ------ 294 

Rennet, Action of ...-..- 294 

Effect of Heat in Cheese Making, - - - - - 296 

The Armstrong Vat, - - - - - - - . 300 

Acidity in Cheese Making, ------- 301 

Setting of Cheese, ------- 303 

Pressing Cheese, -------- 305 

Curing Cheese, -------- 305 

CHEESE FACTORIES AND FACTORY MANAGEMENT, - 307 

Willow Grove Factory, ------- 30^ 

Factories in the West, ------- 311 

Delivering Milk to Factories, ..-.-- 312 

Factory Milk Can, -------- 313 

Carrying Milk, ---...-- 314 

Ventilation of Cans, -------- 315 

Delivering Milk, - - - - - - - - - 315 



Table of Contents, xi 



CHEESE FACTORIES AND FACTORY MANAGEMENT. 

Motive Powers, ...----- 317 

Methods of Heating, ------- 319 

Use of Vats, --------- 320 

Curd Cutters, -------- 321 

Curd Mill, --------- 324 

The Ched'dar Process, ------- 326 

Treatment of Curd, -------- 327 

Working Tainted Milk, ------- 328 

Working Sour Milk, - - - - - - - - 33° 

Working Skim-milk Cheese, ------ 331 

Oleomargarine Cheese, ------- 334 

The Ellsworth Method, 334 

Hay Cheese, --------- 33^ 

Curing Early Cheese, ------- 337 

Pressing Cheese, -------- 338 

Time of Pressing, - - - - - - - 34° 

Care of Cheese in the Curing Room, - . . - . 341 

Boxing Cheese for Market, ------ 342 

Farm Dairy Cheese Making, - - - - - - 342 

APPENDIX, 346 

Hot Iron Test, -------- 346 

Testing Milk at Factories, ------ 346 

Rennet, --------- 347 

Preparing Coloring for Cheese and Butter, - - - - 35° 

To Prepare Basket Annatto, - - - - - . - 35° 

Boards of Trade, --.----- 35° 

Rules and Regulations for a Board of Trade, - - - - 351 

List of Apparatus, ------- 352 

Complete Outfit for a Cheese Factory of 400 Cows, - - . . - 352 

Form for Organizing a Dairy Manufacturing Company or Association, 353 

Analysis of Cheese, -------- 354 



INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE. 

Ayrshire Cow, Georgia, .--.--- 31 

Jersey Cow, Nella, ........ ^4 

Dutch or Holstein Cow, Maid of Twisk, - - - - - • 37 

Shorthorn Cow, -----.---40 

Milk Mirror, ...-..---. ^q 

Barn of Peter Mulks, -------- 99 

Barn of Peter Mulks, Plan of ------ - loi 

Bents of Keeler's Barn, -------- 107 

Basement of Mr. Stewart's Barn, - - - - - - - no 

Octagon Barn, - - - - - - - - -in 

Fats m Milk, -------... 128 

Udder, --....--.. 134 

Teat with Irregular Interior, .-..-.. 135 

Lobules, ----.-■.--. 138 

Ultimate Follicles, --------- 138 

Milk Globule with Broken Pellicle, - - - - - - 140 

Enlarged Follicle, --------- 141 

Colustrum, .-.-.--... X42 

Colustrum, -.- - - - - - - - - 143 

Fifth Milking, - - - - .... 144 

Old Milk, - - - 153 

Plug for Enlarging Teat. ....... ^66 

Milk Cells, - - * 169 

Impurities in Milk, - - - - - - - - 179 

Milk Globules, --.-....- 180 

Milk from Stagnant Water, --...-- 181 

Milk from Distillers' Slops, - - - - - - - 182 

Milk Cooler, - - . . .... 200 

Milk Vat, ---....... 202 

Dash Churn, --....... 225 

Blanchard Churn, --....... 227 

Butter Worker, ---.....- 235 

The Adams Butter Package, - - - - - - - 243 

Chesebro's Butter Jar, --....-- 245 

Plan of Spring House, _-...... 252 

Sub-Earth Duct, ---...... 255 

Hardin's Milk Cooler, -.-..... 258 

Plan of Ice House, - - - - - - - - 264 

Butter Factory, West Bangor, N. Y., - - - - - - 268 

Butter Factor^', West Bangor, N. Y., Ground Plan of - - 269 

Elm Tree Creamerj', Elevation of - --.... 280 

Elm Tree Creamery, Ground Plan of - - - - - - 281 

Harrison Creamery, - - - ... . . . . 283 

Heating Apparatus, ........ 299 

Willow Grove Factory, -.-..... 308 

Willow Grove factory, Plan of ...... .-og 

Iron-Clad Can, ----..... 313 

Can Ventilating Device. --..... ^jj 

Economizer Engine, - - - - - . ... 318 

Cheese Vat, ---...... 320 

Curd Cutters, - - - - - . . . - 321 

Syphon, ------.... .2^ 

Curd Mill, ^24 

Curd Sink on Castors, -•---... 325 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 



OF THE 



AMERICAN DAIRY SYSTEM, 



From time immemorial the milk of domestic ani- 
mals has been used as food for man, and its value as 
a wholesome and rich diet has been recognized from 
the earliest records, all the way down to the present 
date. 

The cow has been the chief animal from which to 
derive milk ; but the sheep and goat, the ass and horse, 
the buffalo and deer, have each also been drawn upon 
to furnish for the gratification of the human palate 
and the support ot human life, the pabulum nature 
designed for their own offspring. The milk of these 
animals is still largely employed as food by different 
nations, but in American dairying, only cow's milk 
is used, and but very little milk from any other animal 
is ever used by, or even familiarly known to, the people 
of the United States. Cow's milk is therefore only 
treated of in this work. 

Butter and cheese came later into use, but their 
origin, too, reaches so far back, that its precise date 
is lost in the dimness and obscurity of the distant past. 



i^ American Dairying. 

Though for many centuries in use, and always 
esteemed as health-inspiring luxuries, the progress 
which has been made in preparing milk and its pro- 
ducts for preservation and consumption, has been 
remarkably slow until within a very recent period. 
The slow advance in the quality and production of 
butter and cheese, is not without many parallels in 
rural industries. The modes of tilling the earth, the 
rearing of flocks and herds, and the culture of fruits 
and grains, have made equally slow advances. 

In all the avocations of men in which the laborers 
work in positions so isolated as to fail of quickly 
catching any progressive steps their fellows may 
make, advancement is always slow. To make much 
progress men must work socially, so as to learn of 
each other. No one makes much progress by work- 
ing alone. It was not, therefore, till associated dairy- 
ing came into vogue, and the numerous associations 
for mutual instruction and investigation were estab- 
lished, that dairying in this country, made any marked ■ 
advance. Since these agencies were adopted, it has 
on this continent shot ahead with a velocity that has 
astonished ourselves and attracted the attention of 
the civilized world. 

It is not my purpose to trace the history of dairy 
husbandry through the long and devious course from 
its origin down to the present time. It must suffice 
for me to allude in the briefest way to the rise of the 
system now in general use in the United States and 
Canada, known as the American system of dairying, 
and to pass at once to a study of its practical work- 
ings and philosophy. 

The system of associated dairying originated with 
Jesse Williams of Rome, N. Y., in 185 1. Its origin is 



Origin, &c.^ of the American Dairy System. 75 

regarded by many as accidental, but I do not so con- 
sider it. 

We had arrived at a stage in the progress of dairy 
husbandry where a closer study of the art, especially 
of cheese-making, began to be awakened, and men 
prominent for their skill and intelligence began to 
make their influence felt in the quality of cheese. 
Prominent among these early pioneers in the improve- 
ment of cheese-making were Harvey Farrington, who 
introduced and explained the use of acidity, and the 
effect of ripening milk for improving cheese; A. L. 
Fish, Harry Burrell, Jacob Ellison, R. D. Brown, 
Nathan Arnold, all of Herkimer Co., and many others 
who might be named. These men, who in advance of 
Mr. Williams, became noted for their skill in cheese- 
making, are still living, and with the harness yet on, 
are still laboring in their old age, to advance the pro- 
gressive movement they did much in their earlier days 
to inaugurate. 

In 1844 a cheese factory was built in Goshen, Conn., 
by Lewis M. Norton, which is still in use by his de- 
scendant, Ed. Norton. The milk supplying this fac- 
tory was coagulated at the farms, and the curd taken 
to the factory to be converted into cheese. It was an 
easy step from the association of curds to the associa- 
tion of milk. 

The necessity of the plan introduced by Mr. Wil- 
liams, was becoming so apparent and so strongly felt, 
that it could not much longer have escaped recognition 
had not his clear head and practical ability put it in 
successful operation. There is evidence of this in the 
fact that the fundamental idea of his plan had also 
occured to others in different parts of the country. 



1 6 American Dairying. 

and that a system, closely analagous, had been in 
operation in Switzerland for more than a century. 

This view does not detract anything from the credit 
due to Mr. Williams as the originator of the Ameri- 
can dairy system. His leadership in the matter is fully 
recognized and acknowledged, and it entitles him not 
only to the credit of originality but to the profound 
thanks of the whole dairy public for his timely inau- 
guration of the most important improvement ever 
introduced in the dairy interest. The view I take of 
the part he played, makes him, like Ericson with his 
monitor, and as inventors generally are, a necessary 
link in the chain of progressive events. 

The circumstance which gave rise to associated 
dairying, was the fact that the products of Mr. Wil- 
liams' dairy would sell for a higher price, than those 
of his son, living near by him. To secure for his son 
the same price he received for his own, he took his 
son's milk ii^ with his own, who divided with him the 
cost of manufacturing and then shared with him/r^ 
rata^ according to the pounds of milk each had fur- 
nished. This proved advantageous to both. It reduced 
the cost of manufacturing the milk of both, and en- 
hanced the price of the son's cheese. From this hint 
the milk of one neighbor after another was taken into 
the partnership, till the dairy house of Mr. Williams 
became the general manufactory for the milk of the 
dairies around him. Thus the original idea as intro- 
duced by Mr. Williams, embraced mingling the milk 
of several herds in one manufactory so that the best 
skill of the neighborhood could be applied to the 
whole. This idea is now receiving a more extended 
application. One expert now often controls the oper- 
ations in a number of factories ranging from two to 



Origin, &c., of the American Dairy System. ij 

twenty or more. In this way the rare skill of superior 
experts, is made available to its utmost extent. This 
extension of skill is the all important characteristic 
of the factory system as distinguished from private 
dairies. An occasional expert may be found in 
family dairying, but it is not possible to find one in 
every family. The great bulk of products manufac- 
tured in dairies must be made by mediocre or inferior 
skill. But it is possible to find in a whole neighbor- 
hood one or more superior hands, and in the territory 
occupied by a number of factories it is always easy to 
find an expert whose skill can bring the products of 
all the factories he can preside over, up to the highest 
point of perfection known to the art. 

This new departure in American dairying has done 
as much, if not more, to elevate the standard of Ameri- 
can dairy products, than the original idea of associ- 
ating dairies. As yet, this advantage has been chiefly 
applied to cheese-making, but there is an equal neces- 
sity for applying it to butter-making, and even a 
greater necessity, since the butter interest is, at least, 
three times as large as the cheese interest. 

EXTENT OF PRODUCTION. . 

In consequence of the improved modes of manu- 
facture recently introduced, the business of dairying 
has rapidly expanded. It is believed, however, not 
to have reached the enormous magnitude some writers, 
who have taken it tor granted the national census of 
1870 was greatly at fault, have ascribed to it. 

There can hardly be a doubt that inaccuracies of 
greater or less magnitude always creep into the statis- 
tics of the census marshals, but they are as likely to 
vary in one direction as another, and in the aggregate 



1 8 American Dairyhig. 

they give a good approximation to the truth. In regard 
to the statistics of the dairy it is certainly a very easy 
matter for marshals to get, very exactly, the number 
of cows in the country. As the enumeration of cows 
is as easy as that of the population, we may assume 
that item to be correct. The total for 1870 is put 
down at 8,935,232. The amount of butter at 5 14,092,683 
lbs. This at the rate of 100 lbs. to the cow, which, 
for the whole U. S., is a fair estimate, 

Would use the milk of 5,140,926 cows. 

162,929,382 lbs. of cheese at 250 lbs. to the cow 

would use the milk of 651,709 " 

2555500,599 gallons of milk sold of 809,286 " 

Making a total of 6,601,921 *' 

Subtracting this from the whole number of cows, 
we have 2,333,411 cows to supply the home consuino- 
tion of the farmers who produce milk, including their 
families and the help employed by them, which make 
up near one-third of the total population of the coun- 
try. This is a moderate allowance of cows for sup- 
plying so large a number of people with milk. I am 
led to the belief, therefore, that the totals as put down 
in the last national census are substantially correct. 

In 18.70 our exports were tV of our total product of 
cheese, and our home consumption -h' If we suppose 
our home consumption has increased at the same rate 
as our export trade, it would make a present home 
cousumption of cheese of 112,725,605 poUnds, and a 
total product of 204,446,555 pounds. Owing to an 
increased area of dairying in the West, the consump- 
tion of cheese in the West and South, where most of 
the Western cheese finds a market, has been largely 
increased. Allowing twenty millions for this extra 
increase of home consumption, it will give us, in 



Origin, &€. , of the A merican Dairy System. i(^ 

round numbers, a total annual product of cheese at 
present of 225,000,000 pounds, which cannot be far 
from the truth. 

Increasing the butter product at the same rate as 
that of cheese, we have 710 millions as the present 
annual product of butter. Unless the increase of 
cows since 1870 has been vastly greater than in any 
equal period in the past, the present number cannot 
vary much fron ten millions, the annual products of 
which would correspond closely to the above figures. 
I am aware that these estimates will look small to 
those who have had their imaginations stretched by 
the estimates of those who have based their calcula- 
tions on a supposed per capita consumption of butter 
or cheese ; and perhaps they ought to be somewhat 
enlarged, from the fact that in New York and Ohio 
especially, much of the milk which formerly made 
only butter, now makes cheese also from the same 
milk, thus increasing the aggregate product from a 
given number of cows ; but it cannot swell the amount 
to anything like the estimates which have been cur- 
rent for the past few years. 

The last national census does not show the per 
capita consumption of cheese in the United States to 
be as great as in some of the former ones, and there 
are good reasons why such a fact might be expected. 
In the first place, the factory cheese made for export is 
not suited to the taste of our people and it could not 
be expected that it would be consumed as freely as that 
which satisfied their taste better. In the second place, 
consumption has been stifled by crowding our markets 
with skim cheese, to a large extent insipid and indi- 
gestible, and such factory cheese as would not bear 
shipping. For these two reasons it is l^Heved by 



20 American Dairying, 

many, and I think with reason, that the/^r capita con- 
sumption of cheese in the United States, instead of 
increasing as it ought, has been diminishing for several 
years. 



DAIRY FARMING. 



The introduction of the system of associated dairy- 
ing, and the increased attention and study it has 
attracted to the dairy interest, are steadily making the 
business ot dairy husbandry a leading branch of rural 
industry. The more thoroughly the matter is investi- 
gated the more clearly does it appear that the dairy 
affords many advantages over grain-raising and the 
other ordinary branches of farming, especially in par- 
ticular localities; and as a natural consequence, this 
branch of farming is steadily gaining adherents in 
different parts of the country. 

In favorable seasons, the annual returns from a 
grain farm and a dairy farm, do not foot up with a 
very wide difference ; but that difference, whatever 
it may be, is generally in favor of the dairy. But it is 
not the extraordinary margin of profit afforded by 
dairy farming that is making so many converts to the 
cause. The inducements which cause so many to give 
a preference to this industry are various ; and first 
among them is the greater certainty it affords of uni- 
form results. All that portion of North America 
included in the north temperate zone, is subject to 
great climatic variations and sudden changes of 



Dairy Farming. 21 

weather, which more or less affect and interfere 
with the farmer's crops. Drought, early or late 
frosts, excessive wet and cold, and storms of wind 
and hail, are ever-and-anon, the occasion of unfilled 
bins and empty pockets in one part of the country or 
another. On the prairies of the Western States, it is 
estimated that the corn crop, (probably the most relia- 
ble crop. in that section), is seriously injured on an 
average once in three years. And all over the North- 
ern and Eastern States, crops are injuriously affected 
by drought or other cause, to serious extent once in 
about four years. Grass is more tenacious of life, 
and grows at a lower temperature than almost any 
other farm product. Nothing is so secure against 
varying climate and sudden changes of weather as 
grass ; and as the operations of the dairy farmer are 
based on this crop, he can count on results much more 
nearly uniform than the grain-grower. 

The increasing practice of soiling dairy cows during 
a part or the whole of the summer, is not only en- 
hancing the proceeds of the dairyman, but is render- 
ing him secure against the fluctuations of seasons, 
particularly against the almost never-failing recur- 
rence of midsummer droughts. He is yearly appre- 
ciating more fully the fact that by growing deep 
rooted plants — such as corn, lucern and clover — he 
can cheaply provide an unfailing and abundant sup- 
ply of excellent milk-producing food, which will carry 
his herd safely through long and severe droughts, that 
would dwarf his pastures and ruin his small grains. 
He can also, in the same way, eke out his winter's 
store. The practice of soiling taken in connection 
with the certainty of grass, spring and fall, gives him 
a guaranty of uniformity in his annual products, that 



22 Ainerican Dairying. 

hardly inures to any other farmer. Though his cattle 
are liable to accident and disease, the greater security 
which he thus enjoys against varying seasons and 
sudden freaks of weather, is equivalent to a consider- 
ble premium in favor of his mode of farming. 

A second consideration in favor of dairy husbandry, 
is the greater uniformity in the price of butter and 
cheese, as compared with other farm products. The 
markets are often glutted with the different varieties 
of grain, meat, wool, &c., the price running down 
below living rates, to be followed perhaps by inflation. 
In dairy products variations are not so great. Periods 
of activity and depression occur, but there are no such 
wide fluctuations as in the grain market. Great ex- 
tremes cannot be reached in the dairy. The cows of 
a country cannot vary suddenly. It takes four or five 
years to produce a cow — and the market cannot be 
suddenly glutted. In fact, the cows in any country 
generally maintain nearly a uniform ratio with the 
number of inhabitants, varying very little, if at all. 
On this continent it has remained nearly the same from 
the earliest settlement of the country to the present 
time, varying little from twenty-three cows to one hun- 
dred inhabitants. A similar uniformity has prevailed 
in England and other countries of Europe. The rela- 
tion, therefore, between the supply and demand of dairy 
products, cannot vary suddenly or very much. The 
relative proportions of butter and cheese may vary 
by reason of changes from the manufacture of one to 
the manufacture of the other ; but an excess of cheese 
diminishes the product of butter, for the number of 
cows, and the aggregate of milk remaining the same, 
if more is devoted to cheese-making, less must be to 
butter-making, and vice versa. Prices run up and 



Dairy Farnimg, ^j 

down as the supply of either varies, but dairymen 
oscillate so easily from the manufacture of one to the 
other, that no ^reat excesses or deficiencies can well 
occur. These circumstances have a controlling influ- 
ence, and will in the future, as they have done in the 
past, keep prices comparatively even. The greatest 
variations are occasioned by good or bad seasons, 
when the aggregate of dairy products is swelled or 
diminished. 

The difference in the severity of labor in grain- 
raising and dairy farming has also, probably, some 
influence in inclining farmers to the dairy ; but perhaps 
the strongest inducement is the little exhaustion it 
occasions to the fertility of the soil. 

How the usual modes of farming exhaust the fer- 
tility ot the soil is well known. The stores of plant- 
food which untold ages had accumulated in the virgin 
soil are sapped away in a few short years of subjuga- 
tion "to the plough. The depleting process seems 
destined to over-run the whole continent. It sweeps 
steadily on, keeping pace with the removal of the 
primeval forests, and leaves everywhere impoverished 
soils and diminished crops behind it. The exhaustion 
goes on till the yield is reduced below profitable cul- 
ture, when some new mode of operating must be 
adopted. There must be a resort to stock-raising, 
dairying, fallowing, rest, green crops, plastering or 
artificial manuring, to increase the yield to profitable 
results, for such results may always be accomplished. 
However low the fertility may be reduced there is 
always still left in the soil an immense wealth of plant 
food, though unavailable for present use, because 
locked up in insoluble compounds which require time 
and the action of the elements to unloose. Here then 



2^ American Daij-ying, 

is a vast extent of land thus reduced, for the restora- 
tion of which dairy farming is most appropriate and 
inviting. It stops at once exhaustion, but does not 
stop income. It brings good returns from the first. 
Forage crops grow well where grain crops pay poorly. 
Seeding down to grass gives time for air and water, 
heat and frost, to gradually unlock the tenacious com- 
pounds which hold the mineral elements of plants, as 
with a firm grasp, and lets them loose for the rootlets 
to feed upon, or to accumulate in the soil for future 
use. It gives time for the absorbent properties of the 
soil to take in elements of fertility from the atmos- 
phere, from the snows and rains, and from the dews of 
heaven. In this way a farm that has been run down 
may be made to grow rich, and a rich one richer. This 
problem is often worked out practically by farmers 
with such satisfactory results as to strongly induce 
others to "go and do likewise." 

The manure-heap is the all-essential thing with the 
dairyman. His mode of farming allows him to con- 
sume the products of his farm on his own premises, 
and to return nearly all that is taken from the soil, 
back whence it came. There is a steady exhaustion 
going on upon a dairy farm as well as upon a grain 
farm, but it is small in comparison. It consists chiefly 
of phosphates that are carried away in the milk, and 
which may be easily restored with bone earth. The 
waste is so slow with ordinary care of the manure, 
that it is not usually felt for many years. By carefully 
saving all the liquid manure from the stables and the 
pens, the store which is already in the earth would 
hold out still longer. This a dairyman should always 
do. The liquid excretions of his animals are worth 
fully as much to the dairyman as the solid, because they 



Dairy Fanning. 2^ 

contain just what dairy farming is all the time in- 
clined to waste. To lose tiie liquid manure is to lose 
one-half the benefit to the farm from keeping a dairy. 
This fact is beginning to be pretty well appreciated. 
While dairymen are swelling the manure heap by 
every available means, they are at the same time 
adopting conveniences to save and utilize the valu- 
able liquids which in former days were allowed to 
w^aste. And this increased economy in manures makes 
the contrast between a farm and a farmer growing 
rich and one that is growing poor, so great as to 
attract the attention of observant men, who become 
persuaded, and keep more stock and plough less. 

An approximate certainty of uniform products and 
prices, a diminution of the severe labor of grain growl- 
ing, a cessation of its exhaustion of the soil, and the 
retention upon the farm of nearly all its fertilizing 
material to aid in restoring an impoverished soil to a 
rich and productive one, are considerations w^hich 
must in the future, as they do now, have great weight 
in leading intelligent farmers to exchange the plow 
for the milk pail. They are sufficient to warrant the 
inference that dairy farming is destined to follow in 
the wake of the grain grower, and, sweeping over the 
wide expanse of his westward march, to restore the 
lost fertility and bring back to productiveness the vast 
extent of land which his destructive habits have made 
poor. They will make dairy farming preferable to 
grain growing when the profits On dairy products shall 
fall to those of grain growing, and even below. 

• LIMIT TO DAIRYING. 

The first limitation to dairying is climate. If it is 
either too hot or to cold to keep cows comfortable 



*26 American Dairyijig, 

and healthy, their milk will be faulty and its products 
poor. The climate in the northern part of the United 
States and southern part of Canada, is generally favor- 
able. By protection against the heat of summer and 
the severity of winter, dairying may be successfully 
carried on some distance, either south or north of its 
natural limit. 

The second limitation is the supply of water. If an 
abundance of good, pure, fresh water, convenient of 
access, cannot be had, thoughts of dairying had bet- 
ter not be entertained. Pure water is a " sifie qua non " 
in dairying. It must be rtmning water, or at \Q2iSt fresh. 
Stagnant or even standing water should not be used : 
it is unsafe. Local limitations on this account often 
bccur. 

Going southward, the want of a supply of running 
water through the summer season, will often be found 
to bar the extension of successful dairying before the 
limit by climate is reached. Were it not for the lack 
of running water three months in the year, the Blue 
Grass regions of Kentucky would be as accessible to 
the dairy as many of the counties in Pennsylvania and 
New York, where little else than butter and cheese are 
now produced. Immense tracts of lands both west 
and south are debarred from successful dairying, be- 
cause, for one quarter of the year or more, they are 
without water, or without such as is suitable for the 
dairy. It will seldom be found a paying business to 
introduce dairying in any place where fresh running 
water is habitually wanting three or four months in 
the year. 

The third limitation is the supply of food. The 
quality must be good, whatever it is. It is impossible 
to make good milk from poor material ; and if such 



Dairy Farming. " ^7 

food cannot be supplied cheaply and abundantly it 
will restrict the operations of the dairy. The increas- 
ing value of land in the older settled portions of the 
continent, tends to increase the cost of cattle food, and 
to confine the limits of dairying on one side, while 
the increased occupation of new and cheap lands on 
the other, tends to the extension of the dairy in that 
direction. The immense extent of cheap land in the 
United States and Canada, will defy competition for 
an indefinite period, especially in the production of 
cheese. 

Peculiarities of soil have been supposed to set the 
most rigid limits to dairying, especially to the cheese 
interest. But it is not easy to set definite bounds to 
the land from which good butter and cheese can only 
be made. Dairymen have been compelled to change 
their opinions in regard to the extent of dairying 
lands, and with more light they may have occasion for 
further modification. It is but a few years since the 
best informed dairymen believed that the limits of suc- 
cessful cheese-making were very narrow, and that the 
people of a few favored localities anticipated they 
would enjoy for ever the privilege of supplying the 
world with cheese. It is but a few years ago that 
New York supplied Canada and the Western States 
with cheese, because it was then supposed that good 
cheese could not be made in either place. Now Can- 
ada is not only supplying herself, but is sending to 
England some fifty millions a year of better cheese 
than New York then sent to Canada, and the Western 
States are beginning to imitate the example of theii* 
Canadian neighbors. For the last three seasons Wis- 
consin cheese has been w^ell received in the British mar- 
kets, and during the past year, butter has been steadily 



28 American Dairying. 

sold by the Board of Trade in Elgin, 111., by the 
thousand pounds, at higher figures than were made at 
the same time for equal quantities, in any of the At- 
lantic cities. The writer had the satisfaction of in- 
specting in the hot weather in June, 1875, butter made 
at Marengo, Illinois, by Israel Bois & Son, and at 
Elgin, by J. H. Wanzer, which it would not be easy 
to excel in any locality, and this with only the facili- 
ties common and available to almost the entire vast 
region of the Northwest. 

In a letter to the Pennsylvania Dairymen's Associa- 
tion last winter, J. H. Reall of Philadelphia, an exten- 
sive dealer in dairy produce, declared the Marengo 
butter the best he had met with from any source. 

Butter making it would seem can now be carried 
on successsfully anywhere that cows can be supplied 
with wholesome food and water, and where they can 
be maintained with a tolerable degree of health and 
comfort, and cheese appears to have no narrower 
limits. The condition and circumstances of the soil 
have, however, some influence upon the quality of 
milk and its products. In milk from low moist 
ground, for instance, the butyraceous and cheesy 
matter will be softer than in milk from land which is 
high or rolling. If the high land is sandy or gravelly, 
the contrast will be still greater. A difference has 
also been noticed in the products of milk from loamy 
soils, and those which are sandy or gravelly, both 
being alike rolling and the herbage the same. 

It is evident that milk different in quality should be 
treated differently. And if the treatment and manu- 
facture should in each case be varied to suit the varia- 
tions in the milk, the probability is that the results in 
each case would prove alike <^tisfactory. 



Dairy Stock. 2^ 

My observations and experience incline to that 
belief. 

The present state of the art of manufacturing cheese 
applies to milk from land of medium moisture, and 
does not succeed well with milk from soils very wet or 
very dry. In a more advanced stage, a wider range 
may be taken. But at present dairymen are advised 
to avoid extremes. Loamy soils with a rolling surface 
that will retain moisture without being wet ; sails on 
which grass will remain fresh and green nearly the 
entire season, and on which a turf may be retained for 
a long series of years, produce butter and cheese of 
the best quality, and' feed at the least cost, and are 
always to be preferred. 



DAIRY STOCK. 



Any breed of cattle worthy of being called a milk- 
ing breed, ought to have the milking habit so well 
established in its blood, that over half of the cows be- 
longing to it prove to be deep milkers. To fall short 
of this, would be to demonstrate that some other than 
the milking quality is the leading characteristic of the 
breed. 

There are but three breeds of cattle in this country, 
which liave attained to any considerable notoriety, 
that will stand this test. These are the Ayrshire, the 
Channel Island, and the Dutch or Holstein. But it is 



JO American Dairying. 

not my purpose to discuss at length the peculiarities 
of the different breeds, but to present only their more 
prominent characteristics so far as they will aid the 
dairyman in the selection of his herd. Besides, as 
this work is devoted to the practical operations of the 
dairy, the limited number of pages to which I am cir- 
cumscribed, would not permit an extended considera- 
tion of breeds, were I disposed to go more into details. 

AYRSHIRES. 

This is a breed of cattle which has come to us from 
Scotland, and takes its name from the county of Ayr. 
There is some disagreement as to the ultimate origin 
of the breed; but this, to the practical man, is a mat- 
ter of little consequence. The main thing which in- 
terests the dairyman is its possession of deep milking 
capacity, and the certainty with which this can be trans- 
mitted. These cattle have been long and successfully 
bred — by judicious selection and crossing, by liberal 
and appropriate food, and by care and constant milk- 
ing — to meet this demand. Developing an aptitude 
for turning food into milk, naturally abates the apti- 
tude for promoting an assimilation of flesh and fat 
and development of frame. The highest milking 
capacity is therefore rather unfavorable for size and 
strength of constitution, as in the milking season 
there is a tendency to convert everything into milk, 
instead of using it to build up and sustain bodily 
structure. 

The Ayrshire cow is not large, but of fair size. It 
is a good cow that will weigh i.ooo pounds. Nor is 
she remarkable for symmetrical proportions. She 
has indeed a clean, well-formed head — rather broad 
between the horns and tapering toward the muzzle — 




Ayrshire Cow, Imported "Georgir," No. 185 N. A. A. R., owned by Sturtevant 
Bros., Waushakum Farm, S. Farmingiiam, Mass. 



3^ American Dairying. 

with a very intelligent and expressive eye. Her neck 
has a deep attachment to the shoulders, but is thin, 
long and symmetrical, and has a decidedly feminine 
appearance. Her fore-quarters are light, smooth and 
thin, and her hind-quarters deep and sprea(iing — a 
form adapted to milk rather than " beef and beauty." 
One of the most striking characteristics of the Ayr- 
shire cow is the size and shape of her udder and teats. 
Her udder is unlike that of any other cow, being flat- 
tened horizontally, but remarkably large and spread- 
ing sidewise ; and while it extends far back, it has a 
very distinctive front development. Her small cylin- 
drical teats are set far apart both ways, and are remark- 
able for their uniform size. She is supplied with an 
extraordinary number of small reservoirs, distributed 
through the udder, which enable it to distend and 
hold a very large mess, but it collapses to very narrow 
limits when empty— a peculiarity which generally 
attaches to deep milkers with a nervous and sensitive 
temperament. The milk mirrors are large and well 
formed. The one on the hinder part of the udder is 
broad and well up ; the forward one spreads over the 
two front quarters of the udder, and extends well out 
upon the abdomen; the milk veins are also large. 
With a capacious digestive apparatus, a brilliant eye, 
and a lively expression in her red and white coat of 
hair— denoting health and vigorous digestion— she 
has all the ijisignia of a royal milker, so far as quantity 
is concerned. An average herd of Ayrshires, fairl) 
fed and cared for, may be expected to give six times 
their weight of milk in a year, while individual cows 
will do very much more. It is doubtful whether there 
is any other breed of cows which will make as good 
an average yield in proportion to their weight. 



Dairy Stock. JJ 

It is worthy of note that the Ayrshires were de- 
veloped on a poor soil, yielding scanty pasturage — 
which makes them all the more valuable as easy 
keepers — and that they have so long and carefully- 
been bred for dairy purposes, that thay have failed to 
develop in almost every other direction. 

The quality of Ayrshire milk well adapts it to 
cheese making. One strain of the breed is said to be 
well adapted to butter making; but I am not familiar 
with that strain. The milk which I have tested was 
well stocked -with nitrogenous matter, and the fat 
globules Avere abundant, but of unequal size — making 
the cream rise unequally, and calling for skill in 
churning, to get all the butter. The yield is a pound 
of butter from 20 to 25 pounds of milk. A micro- 
scopic view of Ayrshire milk may be seen among the 
illustrations in the chapter on " Milk." 

It is not to be expected that a single animal can be 
a full and perfect representative of all the points of a 
breed ; but the portrait presented at the opening of 
this chapter gives a very fair idea of the average Ayr- 
shire cow. She is ten years old, and weighs 1,080 
pounds. Her annual yield has been from 6,000 to 
8,000 pounds, her milk product lor 1874 — during 
which she was dry 22 days — being 8,271 pounds. 

The objections urged by some, against this breed 
are the moderate size, the shortness of the teats, a 
tendency to nervousness, and a suspected weakness 
of constitution. But they find numerous and ardent 
friends among dairymen who use them. 

CHANNEL ISLAND CATTLE. 

There is probably no breed of cattle which can 
boast of a longer devotion to milking habits than the 



34 



A merica n Da irying. 




JERSEY COW "NELLA, 
The property of W. L. & W. Rutherford, Waddington, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. 

Channel Island cattle, the chief of which is the Jersey, 
known also in this country as the Alderney. Ever 
since their introduction upon the isles in the British 
channel, which is too long ago to be definitely traced, 
they have been unremittingly consecrated to the milk 
pail. These cattle, like the Ayrshires, show by their 
size and unpolished form how one leading character- 
istic, when it abstracts to itself an unequal share of 
pabulum, is developed at the expense of all others. 
Turning their food largely into rich milk, their bodies 
remain small and uncouth. Their size is diminutive, 
the average weight of a full grown cow being only 
about 800 or 900 pounds. The annexed cut show^s a 
fair sample of the breed. 

The quantity of milk they yield is not large, but 
fair. Good Jersey cows, if well fed and cared for, 



Dairy Stock. JS 

may be expected to give an average annual yield equal 
to five times the weight of their bodies. Their fort 
lies in the richness of their milk and the abundance 
and high color of their butter. The milk of different 
individuals varies in richness, as well as it does in all 
breeds, but it takes less of Jersey milk than of the milk 
of other breeds for a given quantity of butter — about 
1 8 of milk to one of butter. Eight to twelve quarts a 
day, in the best of the season, is a common yield. 

The original of our illustration, eleven months after 
coming in, and after carying her calf four months, 
gave in August, on grass alone, 22 pounds of milk 
per day, which made 22 ounces of butter. In the flush 
of feed her mess was 37 pounds. This is probably a 
little above the average yield in quantity and richness 
of Jersey milk, but such results are quite common. 
Individuals run far beyond it. The milk of the cow 
" Pansy,'' a herd-book Jersey, the property of J. H. 
Sutliff^, Ct., in one year made 574^^% pounds of butter, 
a yield of which any of the larger breeds might well 
be proud. 

The business of the Jersey cow is emphatically that 
of butter making — and she can be kept for nothing 
else so profitably. Her milk, however, is rich in 
cheesy matter, and, contrary to the general belief, if 
I may judge from samples of cheese from Jersey milk 
which have recently been sent me from Maine, is capa- 
ble of making as fine cheese as it does butter. Though 
it requires less milk to make a pound of cheese than 
it does of the milk of natives — about eight of milk 
for one of cheese — the quantity may be thought insuf- 
ficient to yield a profitable income. It is a new 
feature, worthy of note in the uses of this breed of 
cattle, that their milk can, without waste of buttery 



j6 American Dairying. 

matter, be converted successfully into a strictly fancy 
cheese, and as rich in fat as Stilton. Analyses of cheese 
from pure Jersey milk, recently made in Cornell Uni- 
versity, have shown over 40 per cent, of fat. 

Though the Jersey is not a handsome animal, it is 
not without something of beauty. Its ornamentation 
is in its head, which is always suggestive of the wild 
look of the deer and elk ; and this with its finely- 
wrought features and its intelligent placid and kindly 
eye, is the best and strongest mark of thorough breed- 
ing the animal bears. Ics constitution is fairly strone, 
and its digestion good, so that it is hardy and econo- 
mises well the food it consumes. Its domesticity and 
quiet disposition, its gentleness and fondness of being 
petted, are much in favor of its usefulness as a milker. 
The large fat globules in their milk with an almost 
uniform size, so that the cream rises quickly and per- 
fectly, and churns easily, also enhance their value. They 
are essential aids to profitable dairying. Against the 
many positive qualities of this breed of cows lie the 
objections of size and moderate measure of milk. 

DUTCH OR HOLSTEIN. 

Fortunately the origin of a breed does not affect 
its characteristics, nor does its name detract from, or 
add to, its capacity to fill the milk pail. Though the 
name and origin of the cattle imported into this coun- 
try from North Holland are disputed, there can be no 
dispute that they possess qualities which make them 
valuable to the dairymen. They possess large frames 
and vigorous constitutions, derived from the generous 
feed of a generous soil for successive generations, and 
their flow of milk is liberal, amounting annually, ac- 
cording to different authorities, from 3/^ to 4 times 



Dairy Stock, 




" MAID OF TWI'^K 
Property of Unadilla Dutch Stock Breeders' Association. 

their own weight. Judging from the average of 
records I have met with, I should place the annual 
yield higher. The average cow of this breed will 
weigh near 1,500 pounds. The milk is rich in caseine 
and is fairly so in butter. The butter globules in their 
milk are very abundant and uniform in size, but small. 
It is therefore rather better adapted to cheese making 
and marketing than to butter making. Butter from the 
milk of Dutph cattle has, however, some special quali- 
ties. It stands up well against heat, and is said to be 
especially good for long keeping. The uniform small- 
ness of the butter globules in their milk, though it 
makes the cream rise slowly, is a positive advantage 
in milk for marketing or cheese making. (See chapter 
on milk for microscopic views of Dutch or Holstein 
milk.) 

In Holland the color of the breed under considera- 
tion, is a clear black and white; but in this country 



J 8 American Dairying, 

the black sometimes shades down to something like a 
reddish hue, while the white remains pure. These 
cattle are excellent for beef as well as milk, and the 
males are said to make good working oxen. 

This breed of cattle has not, as yet, come into very 
extensive use; but the few that have been imported 
and bred have proved very satisfactory, especially fur 
purposes of cheese making. For this, their milk 
seems specially adapted. I have had occasion to 
make several analyses of the milk of this breed, and 
in every instance have found it remarkably rich in 
cascine, fairly so in butter, but poor in sugar— an ele- 
ment not much needed in making either butter or 
cheese. The strength of their food seems to be well 
appropriated. They are liberal feeders, and give, in 
some instances, remarkable yields of milk. The illus- 
tration we give is a fair specimen of the appearance 
of the breed, both in form and color, but it does not 
indicate the size as compared with the illustrations of 
other breeds, it being drawn on a much smaller scale 
than that of the Ayrshire, on a preceding page. The 
subject of the illustration is more than the average 
milker. For seven months and thirteen days, begin- 
ning April 17th, 1874, she gave a total of 9,674 
pounds — a daily average of 41.52 pounds. In 1875, a 
period of seven months, beginning April loth and 
ending November loth, she gave 9,833 pounds — a 
daily average of 4§.2 pounds — making an annual pro- 
duct of over six times the Weight of her body. 

In everything except color, the Holland cattle 
closely resemble the Shorthorns, and so much so as 
to suggest relationship. They appear as much alike 
as could be expected from the different ways in which 
they have been bred and fed. One has been fed on 



Dairy Stock, jp 

rich food to develop beef, and the breeding has also 
aimed in that direction. In the other, selections 
have been made with special reference to milk ; and, 
as in the other dairy breeds, the animals have been 
chiefly supported by grazing — a circumstance that 
strongly favors their adaptation to our mode of dairy- 
ing. 

As an offset to the positive milking qualities of this 
breed of cattle, now aspiring to the favor of dairy- 
men, no strong or specific objections seem to be urged. 
There is, however, in the minds of some, a lurking 
query whether cattle coming from a climate mild and 
even as that of North Holland, and living upon the 
rich grass of that very fertile land, can successfully 
endure the poorer fare and the wide extremes of our 
more variable climate. But they have so far endured 
our climate well, and have given good satisfaction in 
all respects to those who have attempted to introduce 
them. Their milking quality seems to be less variable 
than that of most other breeds — being almost in- 
variably large milkers. 

SHORT HORNS. 

I have preferred not to class the Shorthorns as a 
milking breed, simply because a majority of them are 
not good milkers, and not because there are not nu- 
merous good milkers in the breed. It is doubtful 
whether there has ever been any better milking stock 
than the original , Shorthorns, and they have still a 
most persistent tendency to transmit that quality to 
their descendants. If any proof of this were neces- 
sary, it can be found in the fact that while nine-tenths 
of the Shorthorns breeders, work with an eye single 
to ''beef and beauty," and to breed out milk, strong 



4-0 



A mcrican Dairying. 







Short Horn Cow Sonsie nth, the property of Gen. N. M. Curtis, Ogdensburg, N. Y. 



Dairy Stock. 4.1 

milking qualities are constantly cropping out in spite 
of all their efforts to repress it. Where a deep milk- 
ing tendency has not been counteracted, or where it 
has been the least restrained, as in the Princess family, 
it has remained in nearly its original strength, and is 
transmitted with a most remarkable certainty. In 
some strains of Shorthorns blood, modern breeding 
has proved so skillful as to so completely wipe out 
the milking tendency, that cows in vigorous health 
and flesh sometimes fail to give milk enough to sup- 
port a calf, and now and then one gives no milk at all. 
Beef is the all essential thing in the modern short 
horn. While we all admire the elegant forms, the 
well rounded proportions and the delicious flesh of 
the ponderous beasts, nevertheless, from a dairyman's 
stand point, it seems unfortunate that qualities so in- 
valuable to his calling, should be turned out of their 
natural course and devoted to other purposes. When 
a milking strain is met with, the cows take rank with 
the best milkers. 

The butter globules in the Shorthorns milk are gen- 
erally not very high colored,' but of good size, causing 
the cream to rise readily. The per cent, of cream, 
too, is liberal, and the quality of both good.^ The 
milk is about equally well adapted to butter, cheese, 
and marketing. Average weight 1,500 pounds. 

The main objection urged against the breed is, a 
tendency to' convert food into fat and flesh, rather 
than into milk. The illustration on page 40 is one of 
the Princess blood, and is a fair average of the milking 
strains of this breed. She is six years old and dropped 
her last calf August 14th, 1875, and gave an average 
daily mess till October 4th, of a little over 40 pounds. 
In one week, beginning Oct. 4th, her daily average 



^2 American Dahying. 

was 38 2-7 pounds with 16 per cent, cream, as shown 
by the cream gauge. Her feed, like that of the pre- 
ceding cows, was grass only. For those who desire <v, 
to consider the element of beef in connection with 
milk, the short horns give the best satisfaction. 

OTHER BREEDS. 

There are several other breeds which have promi- 
nent milking qualities, quite as good, perhaps, as 
those already mentioned, but they are in such small 
supply in this country, as not to be relied on for gen- 
eral dairy purposes, such as the Swiss, Holderness, 
Kerry, &c. And there are other breeds, in larger sup- 
ply, which have many good milkers among them, as 
tlie Devons and the Herefords. Splendid milkers 
occur among these breeds, and the Devons, in par- 
ticular, give milk of a choice quality, but for the 
general purposes of the dairy, they are defective in 
quantity. 

At the present time, the best of the thorough breds 
cannot be much relied on for the general use of the 
dairy. In the first place, even those which are in the 
greatest supply, are held at prices too high for the 
dairyman to purchase simply for milking. 

He may buy a few good animals and then raise 
others from these; but generally, this process is too 
slow for liim. He wants cows at once, and they must 
be had at once from the best sources available. In 
such emergencies, he must fall back on the natives, 
so called. In these the chances are against him. The 
natives are a mixture of all breeds, with all sorts of 
milking tendencies, but the inferior are in excess. 
They have this advantage, however, over all other 
supplies : they form the great staple of neat stock ; 



Grades of the Milki)ig Breeds. ^j 

and if the dairyman can distinguish a good cow, when 
he- sees one, he can generally make selections at prices 
which he can afford. 



GRADES OF THE MILKING BREEDS. 



While the so called milking breeds constitute an 
item of great interest to dairymen generally, it must 
be borne in mind that thoroughbred cows form a very 
insignificant part of the dairy cows of the country — 
probably not much more than one per cent., and it 
must be a very long time hence, if ever, before any of 
the breeds named as prominent for milk producing, 
will constitute any considerable part of the aggregate 
of dairy stock in the United States. 

Though we have little to hope for, especially in the 
immediate future, from thorough bred milkers, for 
direct and general use in dairies, we have much to 
hope from them by way of their grades. They have 
done much already in this direction, and from the 
readiness with which grades can be multiplied, they 
can expand their usefulness almost indefinitely. From 
their more recent introduction into the country, the 
grades of the Dutch or Holstein cattle have not yet 
figured largely ; but the Ayrshires, the Jersey and the 
Shorthorns grades are quite largely used for recruiting 
dairies, iji preference to any other stock. They make 
the best of dairy cows, equaling and often surpassing 



/f/j American Dairying, 

their ancestors on either side. The splendid milkers 
developed among them and the general good quality 
they possess, the extent to which they are now used, 
and the facility and little cost with which they can be 
increased, make the grades of milking breeds of more 
immediate importance to the milk producer than the 
breeds themselves. 

The estimation here awarded to this kind of dairy 
stock, and especially the intimation that we may 
fairly expect samples which will outdo their parents, 
may, to those who have not been familiar with them 
by use or observation, and who in a certain sense, ex- 
pect "like to produce like," seem to border on the 
extravagant. But the good qualities are there, and 
the extraordinary samples do occur, and for the sake 
of illustrating the peculiar nature of grades, and for 
impressing more fully the advantages of recruiting 
dairies with them, I will make a brief statement of 
my view of the law of descent which makes the results 
known to occur, appear reasonable and legitimate. 

It is not intended here to elaborate the laws of 
hereditary descent to any considerable extent, though 
it would be very interesting and appropriate to show 
how to improve milking stock, and how to build up 
new and superior breeds, but space will not allow. 
Grades have a law unto themselves, and nothing more 
than my view of that law can be attempted. 

It is said that " like produces like," but dairymen 
find no certain reliance on the milking capacity of 
heifers raised from extraordinary milkers they happen 
to get into their herds. There is a a higher probability 
of good milkers from such cows than from poor ones, 
but they do not always follow even when the sire is 
from a good cow. The reason for this uncertainty, 



Grades of the Milking Breeds. ^^ 

very likely, is because the milking capacity of the 
dam is only accidental, and not a fixed characteristic. 

The oft quoted adage, "like produces like," has a 
significance beyond visible qualities. It takes in also, 
constitutional qualities. Two animals unlike in this 
respect, though alike in all others, will not stamp the 
same peculiarities upon their progeny. The first ap- 
pearance of a characteristic does not fix it permanently 
in the constitution of the individual, or, in other 
words, in the blood, and not being fixed, it is easily 
lost when circumstances do not contribute to its con- 
tinuance. 

By continuing it through successive generations it 
becomes permanent, and the longer and more fre- 
quently it is transmitted the better it is established 
in the blood, and the more difficult is it to be bred out 
or dropped out by a loss of vigor or prepotency in 
the parents. Qualities recently acquired are easily 
dropped by a want of vigor in the breeding animals. 
When the health and vital force are full to overflow- 
ing, personal peculiarities are most perfectly trans- 
mitted, let them be what they may. The individual 
then transmits himself as he is. The perfection with 
which the progenitor transmits himself under such 
conditions is so complete, that even a scar on the 
parent has been known to reappear in the offspring. 
But let the vital force wane, and the characteristics 
which have been last acquired, and which are of 
course the least fixed, will fail to appear in the 
descendant. And as the vigor of the progenitor 
fails, the characteristics disappear one after another 
in the reverse order in which they have been assumed, 
and according to the extent of the depression of vital 
power, and the progeny "takes back," or in other 



/fd American Dairying, 

words, inherits only those elements which .have been 
the longest or most firmly fixed in the blood of the 
parent. Hence, when a combination of favorable cir- 
cumstances develop an extraordinary milking animal 
from common stock, the extraordinary capacity for 
milking often fails to reappear in her descendants, 
because, while she is breeding, her vitality is apt to be 
too much reduced by her large flow of milk. Because 
of the debilitating influence of a large milk production, 
the transmission of extraordinary milking qualities 
is more difficult than many, or, indeed, most others. 
On this account there is a constant tendency to depre- 
ciation in milking stock, and the breeder of dairy stock 
should therefore study to guard against it. 

The law of transmission here touched upon is of 
immense importance to the breeder of blooded stock, 
but it is not to impress it upon his mind that it is here 
introduced. It is rather to impress it upon the prac- 
tical dairyman, whose business is the production of 
milk rather than raising stock, that he may make it 
available for filling up the steady waste of his herd, 
with profitable milking animals, and to make the 
application more explicit, another feature in hereditary 
descent may be alluded to. 

In his address before the last convention of the 
American Dairymen's Association, Prof. L. Wetherell 
said : 

"Breeding from a bull and cow of similar type — 
the progeny will be like, and of a higher degree: 
qualities are thus perpetuated and intensified in the 
offspring. Take a Shorthorn bull and represent his 
hereditary power by loo : put this bull to a cow of 
totally different hereditary power, say equal to 60 : 
the off"spring would be reduced to 100 minus 60, equal 



Grades of the Milking Breeds. ^7 

to 40 : suppose the offspring to be a bull, both sire and 
offspring may appear equally perfect in form and gen- 
eral character — the hereditary transmission being as 
much greater in the former sire, as the proportion of 
100 to 40; hence, the former would be, and is, much 
more valuable for breeding purposes than the latter. 
By breeding animals of similar type, the offspring will 
be likely to possess the same characteristics, with a 
greater power of hereditary transmission of this char- 
acter or. these characteristics. On the other hand, 
animals of opposite characters, mutually weaken each 
other's influence, and the offspring possesses the power 
of a hereditary transmission in a reduced degree.'^ 

This is a clear and compact statement of the law by 
which the tendency to strengthen hereditary trans- 
mission is increased by coupling animals of similar 
type, and the reduction of hereditary transmission by 
coupling animals of opposite characteristics. 

The milking breeds noticed, though the best in the 
country, are not perfect, nor, on the whole, growing 
better. There is no breed so perfect that inferior 
animals do not, every now and then, crop out. The 
very high price which herd book animals can now be 
sold for, causes everything to be raised. No one will 
make veal of a calf for which he can obtain ten or 
twenty times as much as it is worth for that purpose. 
Hence good, bad and indifferent, are raised and sold, 
and somebody gets the poor animals to breed from. 
Besides this, breeders are all the time breeding away 
from milk, some for color, some for shape, some for 
growth, and others for fat and flesh, &c. But not- 
withstanding the drawback from raising everything 
and from turning away from milk to other points, the 
fixedness of the milk producing tendency from its 



^S American Dairying. 

lotig succession of transmissions in the past may be 
turned to good advantage by the milk producer. 

Peculiar characteristics as readily descend through 
male as female ancestors, hence milking tendencies 
descend as readily through bulls as cows, and they 
are made use of to transmit the best milking capacity 
of the breeds to which they respectively belong. 

When by crossing with- animals of opposite char- 
acters, prepotency is weakened, that w^eakness is felt 
first, and most effectually, in the characteristics which 
were the latest acquired by the ancestors of the indi- 
viduals making the cross. If, for instance, a peculiar 
color was bred into a variety of cattle later than a 
peculiar form, in crossing with opposite characters, 
color would be most likely to disappear, or be affected 
sooner than form. So where a tendency to take on 
flesh and fat has been acquired on top of deep milking 
qualities, the beef making tendency gives place to the 
earlier and more firmly fixed habit of milking. The 
effect of this law of descent is ever cropping out in 
crossing thorough bred bulls on the native cows. The 
milking breeds in which deep milking has been fixed 
by transmission through a long series of generations, 
and which more recently have been bred toward other 
points, the later characteristics are lost in crossing, 
and the descendant takes back to the older established 
milking blood, and hence it is common to get better 
milkers from grades than was shown in the immediate 
ancestors on either side. This law is well illustrated 
in " Old Creamer," a grade Ayrshire, belonging to 
S. D. Hungerford of Adams, N. Y., which gave 302 
pounds of milk in three days, and in the two Jersey 
grades of Joseph Percival, of Waterville, Maine, whose 
milk made 915 pounds of butter in a year, after 



Grades of the Milki7ig J3reeds. ^p 

fenough of it was sold to make it 50 pounds more. 
But nowhere does this law find better confirmation 
than in the use of Shorthorn bulls with native stock 
The leading characteristics of the modern Snorthorn 
are later acquisitions than a tendency to milk. All 
history concurs in making the production of milk the 
characteristic of the original Shorthorn cow. The 
extraordinary tendency to flesh and fat, and the fine 
form of the Short horns of to-day, are the work of mod- 
ern breeders and have taken the place of a tendency 
to milk. 

In crossing with natives the modern Shorthorns, in 
which the capacity for milk has run low, the later 
acquisitions give way and drop, out and the progeny 
takes back, and the orignal form of the early short 
horn and their tendency to milk revives. It is on 
account of the inherent tendency to milk, that short 
horn bulls, even where that tendency has been well 
bred out, are so notorious for producing good milkers 
when crossed with the native cow. As crossing with 
opposite characteristics impairs prepotency, grade 
bulls are more liable to fail in transmitting their 
individual characteristics than thorough breds. When 
all circumstances are favorable they may transmit 
themselves, but as their prepotency is more easily 
affected by unfavorable conditions, the result of their 
breeding is not very reliable, and hence it is safer in 
raising grades for milkers to resort to thorough bred 
males for sires. When this is done, there is no way 
in which the milk producer can so readily, cheaply 
and safely supply himself with superior milkers, as by 
raising grades from his best cows out of bulls of the 
breed or breeds best adapted to his use. 

At the present time, thorough breds and grades 



jO American Dairying, 

which are accounted as such, are supposed to Consti- 
tute about ten per cent, of the cows which make up 
the dairies in the United States. The rest are from 
the common stock of the country. Though the aver- 
age of this stock is inferior to that of the stock just 
treated of, it contains some splendid specimens of 
good milkers. The average annual yield of milk 
from this 90 per cent, of natives, will fall below rather 
than above, three times their live weight. 

Until thoughts of progress and improvement are 
impressed upon the mindsof more dairymen than they 
are now, filling up the annual depreciation of herds 
•will continue to be made from the common cattle, as 
they are now and have always been. This calls for 
skill in selecting, for which there is a wide range, and 
makes the study of the external indications of milking 
quality a necessity. 



Selecting Dairy Stock, 5/ 



SELECTING DAIRY STOCK. 



There is no one thing on which the success of a 
dairyman depends more than on the selection of the 
cows which are to compose his herd. There is no profit 
in keeping poor ones. The steadily increasing price 
of land brings the cost of keeping so high that poor 
milkers often fail to pay for the provender they con- 
sume. The money made by dairying is all made from 
good cows, and skill in selecting is therefore a matter 
of great consequence. 

To illustrate the difference in profit between a good 
cow and a poor one, let us suppose a case. Take a 
cow of any given weight, say 1,000 pounds, and sup- 
pose it costs in hay, grain and pasture $30 a year to 
support her body, and five dollar's worth of extra feed 
to produce milk for making 300 pounds of cheese, the 
net value of which is ten cents a pound. 

Take another cow of the same weight and it will 
cost the same to support her a year. But suppose she 
can convert $10 worth of extra feed into milk that 
will make 600 pounds of cheese. 

Though the first cow has manufactured each dollar's 
worth of extra food into six dollars worth of cheese, 
the profits on the. small quantity she has manufactured 
will not pay for the keeping. *' While the second cow, 
by converting a larger quantity of food into cheese, 
has paid her keeping and left a handsome margin. 



J-J American Dairyingi 

A comparison of results will stand thus : 

Cow No. I. — Dr. to support one year .f 30 

'' to extra feed for producing milk 5 

$35 
Cr. by 300 pounds of cheese at $10 30 

Loss 5 

Cow No. 2. — Dr. to support one year $30 

" to extra feed for milk 10 

f40 
Cr. by 600 pounds of cheese at $10 60 

Profit $20 

These supposed figures are close approximations to 
actual facts which exist in thousands of dairies. In 
fact there are few large herds that do not contain cows 
differing about as much. A dairyman in Herkimer 
having a dairy of forty cows, which as a herd was 
accounted a good one, selected five of his best cows 
and five of his poorest, and measured their milk 
through the season. The five best averaged 554 gal- 
lons each, and the five poorest 243 each. The milk of 
the whole herd averaged 11^ cents per gallon, making 
the income of each of the better cows $63.71, and of 
the poorer ones $27.95 — ^ sum less than the cost of 
keeping, which he estimated at $30.50. This case was 
not deemed an exceptional one. Its parallel could 
have been found in almost any dairy of equal size. 
To avoid similar defects, a wise selection of stock is 
evidently essential to prosperity, and every one should 
study how to do it. It is believed that the best and 
surest way to secure good cows is to raise them from 
good milking stock. But a large proportion of dairy- 
men, for one reason or another, prefer to fill up 
vacancies, which are ever occurring, by purchasing. 



Selecting Dairy Stock. ^j 

It requires frequent additions to a dairy to keep its 
numbers good. The milking period of dairy cows 
averages only ten years, from which it follows that 
ten per cent, must be renewed annually, and when 
allowance is also made for losses by accident and dis- 
ease, and the rejection of such. animals as prove in- 
ferior, it will require eleven per cent, or more to 
sustain the yearly diminution. In the aggregate this 
makes a large traffic, and it demands a ready appre- 
ciation of the merits of the animals with which it is 
proposed to supply the deficiency. 

How much such a knowledge may avail, an instance 
within our personal knowledge will show. A. L. Fish, 
of Winfield, N. Y., by a skillful selection of superior 
milkers, averaged for a series of years over 800 pounds 
of cheese to a cow in a season. His cows averaged, 
when feed was the best, 32 quarts of milk each per 
day, and in one season he made over 900 pounds to 
the cow. 

The merits of different breeds have been sufficiently 
discussed, and it will suffice here to say that there is 
no single breed which will answer all the requirements 
of every dairyman, nor one in which the milking 
qualities are so well established that one can, by 
resorting to it, rely on getting a desirable animal 
without being a judge of milking qualities. 

The Ayrshires are more uniformly large milkers, 
probably, than any other breed, but defective speci- 
mens occur among them, m.aking selections necessary 
to ensure excellence. 

The Alderneys excel as generally in richness and 
color as the Ayrshires do in quantity, but they are not 
infallible. 

It would be difficult to find a larger flow than is 



j-^ American Dairying. 

sometimes obtained from the Shorthorns, but as a 
breed they are unequal. The rich milk of the Devons 
is also uneven. The Dutch cow, or Holstein, more 
recently introduced, promises well both for quantity 
and quality, but like all the rest, needs to be carefully 
selected to secure a fir^t-class milker. No larger yield 
or richer milk is found anywhere than has been ob- 
tained from the native cows, but they, like the short 
horns, are uneven. The famous Oaks cow, one of the 
most extraordinary cows of her time, having made 
467^ pounds of butter in a year, was a native. The 
cow Kaatskill, that made about as much, and the Ver- 
mont cow, that made 504 pounds of butter in a year, 
were natives. We have had in our own dairy natives 
that have made a pound of butter from 12^ pounds 
of milk, and on the other hand, some that have re- 
quired 44 pounds of milk to one of butter. The ex- 
tremes in quantity are as great, sometimes running 
down to an amount more befitting a sheep than a cow. 
We have, as a rule, found grades to be better milkers 
than either side of the ancestors from which they have 
descended. 

Crosses between thorough breds are also frequently 
improvements upon the original stock. The extra- 
ordinary dairy of Mr. Fish, mentioned before, was 
made up of grades and crosses, most of them crosses 
between Ayrshires and a milking strain of Shorthorns. 

The large annual demand for dairy cattle must be 
supplied from any and all sources that are available. 
The selections, however, must come mostly from the 
native stock. Culling from different sources, and 
from animals of such unequal merit, calls for the 
readiest skill in judging of the external signs of milk- 
ing qualities. 



Selecting Dairy Stock. 55 

There are certain external indications of the capacity 
for producing milk which are as apparent from an 
inspection of the cow as are the signs of strength and 
speed in the horse. In old dairy districts, where the 
owners are in the habit of filling up their herds an- 
nually by purchase, they soon become so expert as 
seldom to be deceived. 

To write out all the marks that are relied upon as 
showing merit and demerit, would be difficult. They 
are best learned by practice and close observation. 
But some of the leading points may be stated that will 
be of some service in determining some of the wider 
differences. 

A great deal has been said and written in regard to 
the appearance of good milkers, and a multitude of 
irrelevant and nonsensical signs have been laid before 
the public, which have tended rather to confuse and 
mislead than to guide and enlighten the inexperienced. 
A sign which h^s no connection with the thing it 
claims to signify is always worse than useless, as it is 
just as likely to lead wrong as right, and detracts from 
more intelligent indications. What important con- 
nection is there between a large flow of milk and a 
" Roman nose," or " a hollow head ;" a long head or 
a short one; a crumpled horn or a straight one, or 
one that tapers evenly or unevenly; or a straight leg, 
or a slim tail ; or a peculiarly shaped ear or dewlap ; 
or whether the eye-lids are well divided, or much 
or little wrinkled ? Yet these and a score of other 
signs equally irrelevant are ever and anon circulating 
through the press to guide, or rather mislead, the in- 
experienced purchaser. 

The reader will see for himself how the following 
points Jvre connected with milk production, and by 



^6 American Dairying. 

attentive observation will soon learn to make them of 
practical utility. 

Milk is a female product, and its production may 
reasonably be expected to be more or less affected, if 
the organization varies much from the characteristics 
peculiar to the sex. First of all, see that the animal 
has a feminine appearance — a cowy look. The next 
thing to be looked after, is the digestive apparatus, 
particularly the stomach and bowels. A large and 
strong boiler is not more essential to the power of an 
engine, than a large and vigorous stomach is to the 
production of milk. A cow cannot make milk out of 
nothing. If she gives a large flow, she must eat and 
digest a large amount of food to make it from, and 
she must have a stomach equal to the task ; one that 
has capacity to hold and power to digest enough to 
manufacture the milk out of. 

When ttie digestive organs are relatively larger than 
the other viscera, they give depth and breadth to the 
abdomen, and a somewhat wedge-shaped form — the 
body tapering forward. An inclination to this struc- 
ture may be seen in the illustration of the Ayrshire 
cow in the chapter on breeds. 

The laro^e stomach and bowels here indicated mark 
a diathesis in which the fluids abound — a condition, as 
will readily be understood, very essential to a large 
flow of milk ; and the broad hips, and the depth and 
breadth of the lumbar region, indicate a large develop- 
ment and flow of blood, and vital influence to all the 
parts surrounding and connected with the milk-pro- 
ducing vessels. Gaunt cows are small milkers. 

A good constitution is important. This may be 
judged of by the lustre of the hair and the brilliancy 
of the eyes and horns. Constitution depends mostly 



Selecting Dairy Stock. 57 

upon the heart and lungs, the size of which may be 
determined by the depth and breadth of the thorax. 
They should have a good development, enough to 
secure health and vigor, but tlie lungs, in particular, 
should not be excessively large. When very large, 
they burn up, by increased respiration, the fat-forming 
material. By the extraordinary energy they create, 
they induce unusual exercise and motion, which make 
a rapid waste of tissue and a rapid assimilation to 
repair it, and thus divert nutriment from producing 
milk. If too small, the animal may be an excellent 
milker while she lives, but will be feeble and short- 
lived. 

The capacity of the lungs corresponds with the size 
of the apertures through which they are filled. Large 
open nostrils indicate large lungs, and vice versa. In 
the same way, the indications of the mouth correspond 
with the size of the stomach. (See the large mouth 
and large strong hips of the illustration of Jersey cow.) 

The chine is regarded as an index to milking ca- 
pacity. When it is double, it denotes breadth of ver- 
tebrae which correspond to the broad open structure 
which is favorable to a large flow. 

It is an accompaniment of broad hips, and these in 
turn denote a large cavity which is essential to good 
milkers. 

The milk mirror, or escutcheon of Guenon, is one of 
the leading indications of milking capacity. It con- 
sists of the peculiar appearance of the hair on the udder. 

Looking at the hind part of the cow, as shown in 
the accompanying illustration, more or less of the 
hair which covers the udder and adjacent parts, will 
be seen, to turn upward or outward. This reversed 
hair forms the so-called escutcheon. If the space 



^8 American Dairying, 

occupied by the upturned hair, especially the lower 
part of it, is very large and broad, so that it extends 
far outward on to the thighs, it is regarded as indica- 
ting a large flow of milk. (See illustration on page 
59.) If the upper part of it is broad and smooth, it is 
regarded as favorable to a prolonged flow. If the 
reversed hair is narrow in its lower part, the flow is 
supposed to be small ; if it is narrow and irregular in 
its upper part, it is unfavorable to a prolonged flow. 
The manner in which the inverted hair connects with 
the hair adjacent, is supposed to have significance. A 
gradual blending rather than abrupt connection is 
preferred. 

The connection of the escutcheon (or scutcheon) 
with the flow of milk is accounted for by Magne, who 
says, that the hair turns in the direction in which the 
arteries ramify, and that the reversed hair on the udder 
and adjacent parts indicates the termination of the 
arteries, which supply the udder with blood. When 
these arteries are large, they are not confined to tjie 
udder, but extend down through it and upward and 
outward, ramifying on the skin beyond the udder, 
giving the hair the peculiar appearance which dis- 
tinguishes it from the rest of the surface. If the 
arteries supplying the udder with blood are very 
small, they are not likely to extend much beyond the 
udder and hence form a small escutcheon. Hence, a 
small escutcheon indicates a feeble supply of blood to 
the udder, and consequently but litttle material to 
make milk of, and hence a small flow of milk. 

Guenon studied and explained these marks only as 
they appear on the hind part of the bag, and the marks 
noticed by him were supposed to apply to the whole 
udder. This could not well be true. Each quarter of 



Selecting Dairy Stock, 



59 




the udder is supplied with blood by a distinct and 
separate arterial branch, and they may, and often do, 
vary considerably in size in the respective quarters of 
the bag. Those supplying the two hind quarters of 
the bag are usually larger than those which supply 
the front part, but sometimes the reverse is true, in 
which case the marks on the back part of the bag 
would not be a correct indication of the front part, 
and so with other inequalities. Each quarter of the 
bag has an escutcheon for itself, made by the ramifi- 
cations of the arterial branch supplying it with blood, 



6o American Dairying. 

and which serves as an index only to that division of 
the udder. These mirrors blend in the middle and 
appear as one, but the outside of the reversed hair 
varies for each quarter according to the size of the 
arterial branch by which it is supported. Cornelius 
Baldwin, of Nelson, Ohio, who has studied milk 
marks very closely, gives as much significance to the 
mirror on the front part of the bag as that on the hind 
part. If there is more escutcheon on one side or one 
quarter of the bag, it indicates a flow from that side 
or quarter corresponding to the excess of the devel- 
opment. 

The size of the escutcheon is regarded as the meas- 
ure of the quantity ot blood supplied to the milk-pro- 
ducing vessels, and are evidence of their capability 
of elaborating milk. In the same way, the veins take 
up the blood and carry it back in the milk veins, 
which pass through the bag and along the belly, and 
enter the body through one or more holes on their 
way to the heart. The size of these milk veins and 
the holes where they enter the body vary with the 
escutcheon, and like it give evidence of the quantity 
of venous blood passing away from and through the 
udder, and they have the same significance with refer- 
ence to quantity, as the supply of arterial blood and 
the size of the escutcheon. 

But none of these indications, taken singly, is an 
infallible evidence of large yield. They must be con- 
sidered together. A large escutcheon and milk veins, 
coupled with a small stomach, would be marked down 
at least one-half of what they might otherwise signify; 
and a large digestive apparatus, coupled with small 
milk veins and escutcheon, should be marked down 
in the same way. Keeping the leading indications 



Selecting Dairy Stock, 6i 

in view, observation will soon enable one to make 
close estimates. 

Soft, fine hair, is by many regarded as an evidence 
of richness, and oftenerthan otherwise it proves true; 
but some cows that give the very richest milk have 
hair that is not so very fine and soft. The appearance 
of the skin is another guide. A clear white, or pale 
skin, is an evidence, either that yellow fat is not 
formed, or if formed, the peculiarities of the animal 
are such that it is used up in supporting respiration. 
When it is so abundant as to lodge in the pores of the 
skin and give it a yellow color, it may be expected to 
appear also in the milk and give it the same color. 
High color and richness seldom fail to go together, 
hence a yellow skin becomes an evidence of rich milk ; 
but it sometimes happens that the skin is of such a hue 
that the yellow fat does not affect its color — in such a 
case, appearance of the skin has no significance. One 
of the best indications to the richness of milk is the 
appearance of the inside of the ear. If that is yellow 
and sheds a yellow dandruff, rich yellow milk is very 
sure to accompany. The same is true in regard to the 
twist. 

The fat of animals is stored in a net work of cells, 
called cellular tissue, and an abundance of these cells 
is coupled with a tendency to form fat wherewith to 
fill them. When a cow is in milk, the fat formed is 
carried away in the milk, making it- rich. Hence, 
where this tissue abounds, rich milk may be expected. 
When dry, the cow having it fattens rapidly. The 
supply of cellular tissue may be known by feeling the 
skin. When it is plentiful it forms a sort of cushion 
under the skin, giving it a soft and mellow feeling. 
When it is wanting, the skin feels hard, and the hand, 



(,2 American Dairying, 

when resting on the animal, feels very much as if rest- 
ing on the bare bones. A soft velvety feeling of the 
skin on the rump and ribs, is a strong indication of 
adipose tissue in abundance, which promotes ready 
fatting and rich milk. 

For reasons explained under the description of the 
udder, a bottle-shaped bag is favorable to richness of 
milk. 

What breed of cows is best depends on where and 
what they are wanted for. If a single cow or a few 
cows are wanted to furnish milk and butter for family 
use, there is nothing better than the Alderney. Their 
milk and butter are exceedingly delicious. If one 
lives near a city or large village, and wishes to sell 
butter fresh from the churn, nothing would find a 
more ready market or stand up better under the heat 
of summer than Jersey butter. But if the object 
were to sell milk by the quart, a poorer choice could 
hardly be made than to select the Alderney cow, un- 
less a price could 'be obtained proportionate to the 
quality of the milk. If the purpose -were to make 
cheese, or butter and cheese from the same milk, then 
nothing is equal to the Ayrshire, especially on hilly 
farms. If to milk awhile and then convert into beef 
should be what the purchaser wants, the Shorthorn 
or Holstein would be preferable. The Devons and 
the natives may also be preferred for special purposes. 
There is no single breed of cows which will best suit 
every locality and requirement. The cow which will 
come the nearest to filling all demands is, in my opin- 
ion, the Ayrshire, but she is not best everywhere. 
The Holstein or Dutch cattle, not so long nor so ex- 
tensively tested, are finding great favor where beef in 
addition to milk for cheese is desired. Not all the 



Selecting Dairy Stock. 6j 

importations of thorough bred stock, I have reason to 
believe, have been made up of the best animals. The 
great difference in the qualities of the animals would 
make it hazardous to order cows without some per- 
sonal knowledge of the cows or their breeder. 

Generally, large breeds are preferred where there is 
an abundance of food easy of access, as in the valleys 
of rivers, the plains of the west, or the rich rolling 
pastures of the Kentucky blue grass region. They 
are also well adapted to the less severe hills of the 
Eastern and Middle States. The smaller breeds have 
the preference in all hilly regions, and in all situations 
where much locomotion is required to procure food. 
While adapting the kind of stock to his location, the 
dairyman should not omit to procure animals whose 
former habits and fare have been as nearly as possible 
like those they are to receive at his hands. The less 
change in the habits of milch cows the better. In 
changing places, where there is a wide change in 
their treatment and mode of living, it takes a long 
time for adult cows to become used to their new situ- 
ation. For this reason, cows which are bought in to 
fill up dairies, often fail for a whole season to give 
their accustomed mess, and sometimes for the second 
and even the third. On this account there is a decided 
advantage in raising stock on the farm with which to 
replace the failing and worn out members of the flock. 
The cows which are raised on the farm are worth one- 
quarter more than those of the same natural capacity 
which have, to endure a long journey and a change of 
food and habits, to be placed in the dairy. 

Having described what a cow should be, I close this 
subject with offering a sample of a faulty cow, with 
which I have been favored by Mr. C. Baldwin, of 



H 



American Dairying. 



Ohio. It shows better than words can describe, just 
what a cow should not be. This cow in the flush of 
feed and in her fullest flow, gave i8 pounds per day 
of very poor milk. 




Food for Dairy Stock, Jc 



FOOD FOR DAIRY STOCK 



The question of food for dairy cattle is a wide one. 
It involves not only the discussion of the qualities 
and effects of the various kinds of food in use, but 
also their relative values and cost. It requires a 
knowledge of the different qualities in food suitable 
for dairy and other stock respectively, and of the 
special requirements of the cows when simply feed- 
ing, when being fattened, and when giving -milk or 
breeding, or both at the same time ; also, whether the 
cow is exposed to heat or cold, and what is the con- 
dition in which the feed is to be given. In short, it 
calls up the whole question of cattle food in all its 
bearings, and reaches out with such wide ramifications, 
that nothing short of a plethoric octavo could do any- 
thing like justice to the subject. For an elementary 
work like this, nothing more than brief outlines can 
be attempted. 

The cost and economical use of food fo.r the dairy 
determines more than any other outlay the pleasure 
of success. The cost of stock, labor, apparatus 
and buildings, is not very different in the several 
localities in which dairy husbandry is, or can be 
carried on ; and the condensedness in bulk and value 
of butter and cheese and the ease of handling the 
packages, make the cost of transportation so light 
as to put dairymen all over the continent nearly on a 



66 American Dairying. 

level with each other, so far as freight charges are 
concerned. But in the cost of food there is great 
variance. The widest difference in this respect is 
found in the price of dairy farms. If one farm costs 
$150 per acre, as in central New York, and another 
costs $50 an acre, and it takes three acres to keep a 
cow a year, reckoning interest at six per cent., the 
annual interest on the land to keep a single cow, will, 
in one case be $27, and in the other J9. This makes 
$18 difference in the cost of supplying a year's food, 
and the profit ought to be large to carry it. 

This annual difference in the cost of keeping, if all 
other circumstances were equal, would more than pay 
the cost of transporting the products of a season 
across the continent and back again. It would give 
the producer in any part of the West or Canada the 
advantage in the markets of the Atlantic seaboard. 

The cost of procuring food for his herd is the 
heaviest expense the dairyman has to encounter, and 
its production and economical use need to be closely 
studied and managed with skill, or the balance is 
liable to get on the wrong side of his account, 
especially upon the high priced lands of the older 
states. The difference in the price of land East and 
West, is a powerful reason in favor of an extension 
of dairying westward. 

Not only its cost, but its quality must be closely 
studied, because every variation affects the quality of 
the milk. Cattle food has been the subject of a great 
deal of discussion, and much light has been thrown 
upon it, but there are very many important points yet 
unsettled, which science and practical observation are 
striving unitedly to solve. When they agree upon 
any point it may be considered settled. It is curious 



Food for Dairy Stock, 6y 

to note their points of agreement and divergence, and 
the progress they respectively make. Science would 
move or rest on rigid logic. Practical men, strug- 
gling with hard labor and limited means, are keenly 
alive to every opening for loss or gain, and are con- 
trolled by these results, and though they sometimes 
form opinions wide of the mark and prejudicial to 
their own welfare, it is interesting to see how very 
often their experience and intelligent observation lead 
them to uniform and sound conclusions, even in ad- 
vance of science. Ask a hundred dairymen what is 
the best food for cows in milk, and with one accord 
they will all answer '^grass,^' which means young 
grass as it is grazed from the turf With this answer 
science accords, and we consider it settled. 

Nothing excites such a liberal secrjetion of delicious 
milk as grass. Nothing better contributes to the health 
and general welfare of the herd than to roam free in 
the open air upon clean pastures, eating and drinking, 
moving and resting Avhen thej will. More food and 
more milk, may perhaps be obtained from a given 
area of ground, by some other way than by grazing, 
but nothing can surpass grass in the excellence of its 
products, and on lands of moderate price, the almost 
universal practice of dairymen argues that it is, all 
things considered, the cheapest as well as the best. 
In considering food for the dairy, we shall assume 
that for all ^ordinary cases, grass ought to be used as 
long as it can be obtained, and when no longer avail- 
able, then such food as comes nearest to it. 

We wnil begin with grass in the spring and follow 
through the year to grass again. Divergent practices 
appean at the outset. It is the practice of some to 
keep their cows yarded and not allowed to taste grass 



68 American Dairying, 

till it is grown high enough for them to fill: themselves 
readily, and to subsist on it entirely. Others allow 
them the range of the pasture, or a part of it, and let 
them change gradually from hay to grass as the latter 
comes slowly forward. There are advantages and 
disadvantages in both these practices. It may be urged 
on one side that feed will hold out better to keep the 
herd from it till there is a ''full bite," and that by 
tasting grass cows lose their appetite for hay and will 
not eat enough to keep up their flesh and strength, 
all of which is true. On the other side, it may be 
said that it is better for cows, or any other stock, to 
change gradually from dry feed to green, and that the 
season for dry food, always too long, is stretched to its 
utmost by shutting cows from the early grass, which 
is also true. A, sudden and radical change of food 
for either man or beast is always attended with ill con- 
sequences. The condition of the stomach and bowels, 
and the quality of the'gastric juices, adapt themselves 
to the nature of the food used. To break up an estab- 
lished order of things, deranges all the operations of 
the system and impairs its functions. In turning cows 
suddenly and wholly upon grass, they are usually 
made sick for several days, and their milk is so much 
affected as to work badly in the cheese-vat for a week 
or more. Diarrhoea sets in, they become weak, and 
the loss of flesh by scouring is often greater than that 
occasioned by a loss of appetite for hay. It is the 
general practice with the best dairymen to give their 
cows early the range of at least, a part of, their pasture. 
We have always found it better, taking the season 
through, to make the change from hay to 'grass a 
gradual one, and to prevent any tendency to falling 
awa^ by extra feed, There is also the advantage, in 



Pood for Dairy Stock, 6^ 

turning out early, of having the first tufts of grass 
eaten off and utilizing the space they occupy, instead 
of leaving them unused to cumber the ground during 
the whole season. 

But, it from scanty pasturing or any other cause, a 
dairyman determines to shut his cows entirely from 
grass till feed is abundant, he may abate the ill effects 
of a too long season of foddering, and prepare his 
cows for a diet of grass, by feeding some kind of green 
food — as beets, carrots, mangolds, turnips or potatoes. 
By baiting the herd an hour or so at a time each day, 
for a few days, and by closing up the foddering season 
with early cut hay and some green food, the cows may 
be so well prepared for grass that they will not be 
much affected by the change, though they may not be 
turned out till quite late; but a small quantity of 
good hay will be relished by cows a long time after 
they have been turned to grass, and it should be fed 
as long as they will eat it, for it will keep them from 
scouring, and promote a healthy digestion. 

Salt ought at all times to enter into the food of the 
dairy cow, and it should be kept where she can par- 
take of it ad libitum. It enters largely into the mineral 
elements of the milk, and as these elements are in 
scanty proportion in young grass, it is most needed in. 
the early part of summer. Both the quantity and 
quality of milk are considerably affected by withhold- 
ing salt till the cows get hungry for it. Cows in the 
season of lactation require more salt than at other 
times, and those that give the most milk require the 
most of it. In some experiments in June it was found 
that by letting the cows go without salt five days, they 
fell off in their milk two per cent, in quantity, and 
seven per cent, in quality, making a loss of nine per 



yo American Dairying. 

cent, on the cheese, which was at once restored by 
supplying salt again. While cows are at grass, salt 
should be given every day, and in May and June it is 
well to give it twice a day. 

We may now pass on to midsummer with the re- 
mark that while grass is used it should be abundant, 
so that the herd can fill themselves readily and rest 
and ruminate. 

It is not believed to be the best plan to depend en- 
tirely on grazing through the whole season. To do 
this, it would be necessary to reduce the stock so low 
as to have a large surplus of feed in June and July, 
otherwise there would be a deficiency in midsummer. 
Grass that gets very much ahead of the stock, is liable 
to waste by tramping down, and to lose its value by 
becoming dry and woody. 

It may be said of the long-leaved grasses, the older 
they are, the poorer the butter and cheese made from 
them. This remark will not, however, apply to all 
forage plants. 

But it is desirable to make the grazing season as 
long as we can, and it may be prolonged by sowing 
different varieties of grass, the mixture including such 
as will come forward in regular succession of time. 
Orchard grass is one of the earliest, and is an excel- 
lent one to graze off with in the spring, and red clover 
with its long roots reaching down to moist earthy will 
hold on late, while timothy, June grass, and red-top, 
fill up the space between, and are ready to revive when 
the dry season is past. 

The length of the grazing season will depend very 
much on the character of the soil — whether it is dry 
or moist. It is desirable to have the^ pasture, or part 
of it, at least, located on loamy soil that will retain 



Food for Dairy Stock. */t 

moisture and keep the feed green. It is thought to 
pay best to stock so as not to have a large surplus of 
feed at the approach of the dry season, and to carry 
the herd through the drought partly on grass and 
partly by soiling. 

Where food is in great abundance at little or no 
cost, as on some of the commons of the west, soiling 
is of less account. Soiling grows in importance with 
the price of land. But it is important anywhere that 
cows are liable to shrink in their milk from drought 
or scanty or stale feed. 

For soiling, fodder corn is generally used, and if 
there is occasion for soiling before corn is fit to use, 
winter rye and green oats will furnish it by coming 
forward early. 

There is much diversity of opinion in regard to the 
fitness of sowed corn for soiling, some regarding it 
as nearly worthless, while others prize it highly. It 
has certainly given very different results on different 
farms. But this difference is not the fault of the corn, 
nor of the farms on which it is grown. It is due to 
the faulty manner of growing and feeding it. 

Botanically, corn and grass belong to the same 
family of plants. Physiologically, corn and grass are 
quite different. The greatest per centage of cheesy 
matter and butter appear in the earliest stages of the 
growth of grass ; they are then most highly colored 
and most aromatic. Steadily, as the grass-plant in- 
creases in height and age to prepare for seed bearing, 
the per centage of these valuable properties begins to 
diminish and the color to grow paler; the starch, 
sugar and gum prepare for, and begin to change into, 
woody fibre, and the aroma steadily wastes away. In 
the growth of corn it is different. Its valuable pro- 



y2 American Dairying. 

parties — its casein, butter, sugar and aroma — deficient 
at first, steadily improve in quality and increase in 
per centage till the flowering begins, and it is not well 
to feed it much before that time. Those who have 
condemned it have fed it too young, or have sown it 
so thick that its aliment was not developed. When too 
thickly planted, its stems and leaves are soft and pale, 
its juices thin and poor, and the effect is a growth 
somewhat like a potato-vine in a cellar. If sown thin, 
or in drills, so that the air and light and heat of the 
sun can reach it, and not fed till nearly its full size, it 
is a valuable soiling plant, and is fed with satisfactory 
results. 

Fodder corn when fed as it comes from the field, 
fresh and green, contains too much water to produce 
the best results. Cows will relish it better and eat 
more of it, and give more and richer milk, if it is 
wilted and partially dried before feeding. Hon. Har- 
ris Lewis, of Frankfort, Herkimer Co., N. Y., who 
has largely practiced soiling with grass, finds that 
grass also produces better results if wilted before it is 
fed, and that both grass and corn, when fed wet or 
even unwilted, should be followed by a light feed of 
good dry hay to absorb their extra moisture before 
digestion. 

In its best estate, fodder corn is deficient in flesh- 
forming material, and should not be fed alone. Grass 
or w^heat-bran, or some food richer in albuminoids, 
should always be used with it to produce the best 
effect. 

In respect to valuable properties, lucern is far 
ahead of corn, being quite rich in albuminoids. Lu- 
cern is an excellent soiling plant, and yields a very 
large crop, on soils adapted to its growth. It requires 



Pood for Dairy Stock, yj 

a light, deep, rich soil, and one that is clean and free 
from weeds. Its growth is rapid and its deep roots 
strike so far down into the earth as to enable it to 
reach moisture in the most severe droughts. Its 
abundant nutrition, its large and rapid growth, its 
perennial roots that save the necessity of annual seed- 
ing and culture, and its ability to flourish in soils 
liable to suffer from extreme drought, make it a val- 
uable soiling plant for special localities. I cannot 
speak of it from experience, but it is doubtful whether 
it is as well adapted for the general purpose of soil- 
ing as some other plants. Mr. Lewis tried it on the 
alluvial flats of the Mohawk and on the loamy up- 
lands of his farm, but fell back upon orchard grass, 
as being, all things considered, the most profitable. 

The two varieties of red clover, large and small, 
are extensively used both for soiling and grazing. 
The points which give them preference with dairymen 
are, the large amount of nutritious feed they yield, 
the rapidity with which their growth is renewed, their 
ability to endure drought by reason of their long 
fusiform roots, and their well known action as fertil- 
izers. More butter and cheese can be made from a 
given area of clover than of grass, but the quality of 
neither will be as good as when made from grass. 

It is a question that must be settled by local circum- 
stances, whether the smaller and better product is 
more or less profitable than a larger and inferior one. 
Clover, in its green and succulent state, especially 
when the growth is young and very rank, carries in 
its sap a property that modifies the flavor and quality 
of both butter and cheese. This property, whatever 
it maybe, is often carried into milk in such quantity, 
when clover is young and fresh, as to produce taint in 



7^ A 1)1 eric an Dairying. 

the milk and floating curds, and is perhaps identical 
with the cause of hoven. But this peculiarity fades 
away as the plant approaches flowering, and, like the 
poison in parsnips, is destroyed by drying, or even 
wilting. Wilted, dried, or even steamed clover, pro- 
duces more of the peculiarities of its fresh condition, 
and in this way may be used with good advantage as 
a soiling plant. The wilting, or partial drying, should 
never be omitted. 

The prevailing practice among the best dairymen 
of New York and New England, is to commence soil- 
ing with green rye, clover, orchard grass, green oats, 
or fodder corn, before the grass has become much 
scanted, so that the herd shall at first depend about 
equally on grazing and soiling. In this way, no 
shock is felt in the feeding, and no shrinking in the 
milk occurs except the natural decrease by distance 
from the time of coming in. Thus the herd is carried 
steadily along till relieved by an increased growth 
from fall rains, if perchance, tliey conie. 

Whatever course is taken by the farmer, some pro- 
vision must be made for keeping up the flow when 
grass first fails. If this is not done, diminished milk 
and milk products m.ust be expected the remainder of 
the season, After a cow is well along in the milking 
season, and especially if she is with calf, as she is very 
likely to be in August, if she is allowed to fall away 
in her milk, she cannot by any after feeding be brought 
up to give as much as she would have given had the 
flow been kept up all along. High feeding wnll then 
stimulate the growth of the foetus, and the cow will 
run to flesh rather than milk. Earlier in the season, 
especially for a few weeks after coming in, the activity 
of the milk glands is such that they will rob the blood 



Food for Dairy Stock. y£ 

of the cow of what is necessary to supply her daily 
waste, and she will grow poor under their action if 
slie is not abundantly fed. But later in the season 
those glands abate their activity, and the increasing 
vigor of the cow and her growing foetus, make the 
strongest draught upon her nutrition, and if there is 
any deficiency, it will be felt in the milk. Hence tlie 
great necessity of never slacking in the supply of feed 
after the middle of the summer. 

If the fall feed comes in well and is abundant, extra 
feeding may not be required during the fall ; but 
usually some succulent food, as fodder corn, pump- 
kins, apples or roots, will be required to keep the milk 
from dropping down too fast. In the absence of any 
such feed, wheat or rye bran will be found an excel- 
lent substitute. It is about as good as soiling at any 
time, and is more convenient to feed. If not very 
much dried of their milk, five or six pounds of the 
bran per day for each cow, wet and thrown on to some 
coarse fodder, will make a pound of milk or over, for 
every pound of bran, and the milk will more than pay 
the cost of the bran and labor of feeding. Bran is 
excellent food for cows at any time when extra food 
is required. We have generally been able to get from 
it more milk than from an equal cost of any other 
ground feed. It is better suited to warm weather than 
meal. As the weather becomes cool, if cows are at all 
thin, meal may be profitably added. At any rate feed 
enough of some kind should be given to keep up both 
milk and strength all 4:he fall. One of the worst 
errors a dairyman ever commits, is to let a cow go 
into winter quarters drooping. 

If the herd has been properly cared for while gra- 
zing, the flow of milk wnll be considerable upon com- 



^6 American Dairying. 

ing to the stable for winter quarters, and it is advisable 
to keep it up as well as possible. The idea conveyed 
by the phrases, "a cow is a cow," and "it costs as 
much to keep a poor cow as it does a good one," is 
now discarded by intelligent dairymen. A good cow 
needs more food than a poor one, and the more milk 
she gives, the more food she requires. But it will not 
pay the farmer, who is short of fodder, to dry up his 
cows early to save keeping. He will lose money in 
the end by doing so. A cow that is coming in the 
first of April maybe milked till the first of February, 
if she is well kept. At the ordinary prices of keeping 
and of butter, she will make butter enough from the 
beginning of foddering to the first of February, to 
pay the whole cost of wintering, with the cost of all 
the extra feed counted in, and she wnll lose nothing 
in flesh or vigor by doing so. If the supply of food 
is insufficient, milking so late would be detrimental, 
as it would tend to debilitate the cow. It pays best to 
feed and milk liberally. Hay alone, especially if cut 
after it is in blossom, will not be sufficient. When 
not in milk, a cow can get along well on good hay 
alone; but she cannot eat and digest enough to sup- 
port herself and keep up a good yield of milk — either 
her flesh or her milk will fail. Some richer feed should 
be mixed with it. But if hay is cut early, before it is 
in bloom, and well cured, it will do well alone. The 
difference between early hay and late cut hay, is not 
generally appreciated. The later hay is cut, the less is 
the per centage of flesh forming elements, the lighter 
colored its butter, and the more slowly does it digest. 
Grass cut a week before it is in blossom, and grass 
cut a week after it is out of blossom, are very diff"erent 
for feeding purposes. The later cut hay will contain 



Food for Dairy Stock. yy 

about 40 pounds in a hundred that will be made avail- 
able for food, the fatty matter will be pale, and it will 
take six hours to digest a meal of it. The early cut 
hay, on the other hand, will contain about 55 pounds 
of available matter in every 100 pounds weight, which 
will be in better proportion and better color, and will 
digest in four hours as well as the other wnll in six. 
Horses and mules digest late cut hay very well, 
especially the mules ; but, if eaten in a dry state, it is 
no^ well adapted to the bovine stomach, and they fail 
to digest it thoroughly. This is proved by the fact 
that cattle will live and maintain themselves on a 
smaller amount of nutriment when given in green 
food, w^hich is easy to digest, than they can if given 
in dry hay well matured. 

The following extract from the address of Dr. 
James Law, of Cornell University, delivered before 
the American Dairymen's Association, in January, 
1870, is in point : 

"A bullock maybe kept in fair condition on 120 
pounds of turnips daily, but could not be so sup- 
ported on eight or Aine pounds of Timothy hay, 
though, as judged by their relative amounts of proxi- 
mate principles, their nutritive value should be nearly 
the same. Again, cattle which are fed in Scotland on 
turnips and uncut wheat or oat straw, occasionally 
make as much as two pounds increase of weight daily, 
on a diet of 180 pounds Swedish turnips and five 
pounds of straw per day, yet no one would expect 
this daily increase on a. diet of 20 pounds of hay per 
diem, w4iich would be a fair nutritive equivalent, as 
judged by its chemical constituents, and, moreover, is 
greatly superior to it in those fat producing principles 
which are especially required in the feeding ox. The 



y8 American Dairying. 

difference in result is unquestionably due to the abun- 
dance of water in the turnips in intimate union with 
their nutritive constituents, and which renders them 
more easily assimilated. The plentiful supply of 
liquid to the blood and tissues not only favors the 
destructive and reparatory changes in those, but main- 
tains in full activity the various secreting organs, 
counteracting costiveness, suppressed, concentrated 
and irritating urine, inspissated bile, and the like. 
The same result follows in all cases when this finely 
divided and watery food is supplied ; and however the 
condition may have been brought about, whether by 
cooking, macerating, germinating, or otherwise, other 
things being equal, the progress made in growth, in 
fattening, or in the yield of milk, testifies to the 
enhanced value of food in this particular condition." 

Dairymen in the older dairy districts, are ever)- year 
cutting their food for winter a little earlier. In cen- 
tral New York, hay is cut twenty days earlier than it 
was twenty years ago. ^ 

But the reader is probably ready to ask, if it is ad- 
visable to milk cows up to witfiin eight or ten weeks 
of coming in again, and common hay is not .good 
enough to keep them on without extra feed in some 
form, what is to be done with the coarse fodder, corn- 
stalks, straw, &c.? Must it be thrown away? All the 
fodder that is grown on the farm can be profitably fed 
to the dairy if properly used. Before speaking of its 
use, however, a word in regard to the nature and pur- 
poses of food may not be amiss. 

The food of animals is not one homogeneous mass 
or single composition. It is composed of several dis- 
tinct parts, each of which performs a distinct part of 
the economy of life, and cannot be substituted for any 



Food for Dairy Stock. 7p 

other. One kind of food, having a definite composi- 
tion, builds up flesh and restores its waste, and exists 
in several different forms, and is known under differ- 
ent names, as albumen, fibrin, caseine, gluten, &c. 
They are all included under, and are designated by 
the terms, albuminoids, or flesh-forming food. An- 
other kind supplies the material from which are gen- 
erated animal heat and force. This kind of food is 
made up of fats and oils, starch, gum, sugar, &c., and 
are called supporters of respiration, or heat-producing 
food. Besides these, water and certain minerals, as 
soda, lime, phosphorus, iron, &c., enter into the com- 
position of the bodies of animals, the latter chiefly to 
build up the bones. As the minerals, excepting salt, 
are usually in sufficient supply in all kinds of food 
they need not be considered here. What we wish to 
call the attention of the reader to, is the fact that the 
albuminoids and heat-producing foods must sustain 
certain relations to each other, and be supplied in cer- 
tain relative proportions according to the condition 
and circumstances of the animals. If a cow is not in 
milk she may not need any more albuminoids in cold 
than in warm weather; but she would need more heat- 
producing food to keep her warm. In the summer, for 
every pound of flesh-forming food she uses, she will 
require three pounds of heat-producing food, and in 
the winter, five or six pounds; a cow can live well on 
food in such proportions if she is doing nothing but 
living. Twenty-five pounds of hay per day would 
give her two pounds of flesh-forming and ten or 
eleven for producing heat, and this would supply her 
necessities. But it would not support her and a flow 
of milk too, in which albuminoids are in much greater 
proportion (two to five). Hence the necessity of some 



8o American Dairying, 

other food to go with it to furnish the albuminoids for 
the milk. A few pounds of meal, or bran, or early, 
cut hay, or oil-cake (in all of which albuminoids 
largely exist), will supply just what is needed. 

In a similar way we can use the corn stalks and 
straw. In corn stalks, for example, albuminoids and 
supporters of respiration are as i to 13, the former 
being deficient ; in pea and bean meal, in which are 
about 25 pounds of the former to 50 pounds of the 
latter in a hundred weight, we have the means of bal- 
ancing the elements of food so that the excess of 
starch and sugar in one, and of flesh-forming ele- 
ments in the other, shall be economized to the best 
advantage, nothing being lost. Straw may be made 
use of in the same way. The flesh-forming and respi- 
rative elements of food in it are in the relation of 
about I to 15, supposing the grain to be ripe when 
the straw is cut. Diff"erent kinds of straw, of course, 
vary in value, and the value of each will vary with 
the time of cutting. If the grain is in the dough 
stage when cut; .the relation of the two kinds of food 
will be about as i to 10. Coarse fodder generally 
abounds in heat-producing food, and is deficient in 
flesh-forming matter, and it is therefore best fed 
when the cows are not in milk. With 15 pounds of 
straw or stalks cut and wet, a few pounds of bran or 
meal (say 4 pounds of bran and i pound of pea m_eal) 
mixed with it, will keep a common sized native cow 
in good condition, if she has the benefit of a comfort- 
able stable. Larger cows, and those that are exposed 
to the cold, will require more. With a little more 
ground feed added, this same diet may be given to 
cows in milk. All the coarse fodder a dairyman has 
occasion to raise may thus be used in wintering his 



Food for Dairy Stock. 



8i 



stock, and at a less cost, the fodder and grain being 
counted together, than he can winter them on hay. 

We copy from the table of Wolff & Knop, as quoted 
by S. W. Johnson, the nutritive and heat-producing 
values of some of the different kinds of winter food 
in common use. It may be of some advantage in 
adapting the different values to each other. The)^ are 
arranged in the order of their flesh-forming material : 



Oil Cake 

Bean Meal 

Pea Meal 

Alsike Clover in blossom 
White Clover in blossom. 

Rye Bean , 

Lucern in blossom 

Wheat Bran 

Red Clover in blossom. . 

Oats 

Orchard Grass 

Rye Meal 

Meadow Fox Tail 

Corn Meal 

Timothy Hay 

Badey 

Buckwheat 

Common Hay 

Pea Straw 

Corn Stalks 

Barley Straw 

,Oat Straw 

Wheat Straw 

Potatoes •. . . . 

Ruta Bagas 

Carrots 

Turnips 

Beets (Sugar) 



Albuminoids 



28.3 

25-5 
22.4 

15-3 
14.9 

14-5 
I4.4 
14.0 

13-4 
12.0 
II. 6 

II. o 

10.6 

lO.O 

9-7 
9-5 
9 o 
8.2 
6.5 
3-0 
3-0 
2.5 
2.0 
2.0 
1.6 

1-5 
I.I 

0.8 



Starch, 


Sugar, Gum, 


&c. 


41.3 


45-5 


52.3 


29.2 


34-3 


53-5 


22.5 


50.0 


29.9 


60.9 


40.7 


69.2 


395 


68.0 


4^.8 


66.6 


59-6 


41-3 


35-2 


390 


32.7 


.38.2 


30.2 


21.0 


9 3 


10.8 


5-1 
I'i.4 



Fat. 



lO.O 
2.0 
2.5 

3-3 
3-5 
3-5 
2.5 
3.8 
3-2 
6.0 
2.7 
2.0 

2-5 

7.0 
30 
2.5 
2.5 

2.0 
2.0 
I.I 

1.4 

2.0 
T 5 
0.3 
0.1 
0.2 
0.1 
0.1 



As a part of the heat-producing food must be fat, it 
has been placed in a separate column. 

There are so many circumstances that vary the 
quantity of food required for the daily use of a cow, 



82 American Dairying. 

that no precise figures can be set down as represent- 
ing the exact amount of the different elements neces- 
sary for her to subsist upon, but the following may be 
regarded as approximatively correct for a cow weigh- 
ing 800 pounds when not in milk. Her daily food 
should contain at least — albuminoids, i^ pounds; 
starch, sugar, &c., 8 to 10 pounds; fat, ^ pound. 
With a large flow of milk the albuminoids would 
need to be doubled, the starch, &c., increased one- 
half, and the fat doubled. From this it may be seen 
how to proportion the several kinds of food to adapt 
them to each other, so as to use them with economy. 
If the food is to be used dry, an allowance of one- 
fourth should be made for imperfect digestion. If 
cooked or steamed the digestion will be perfect and 
the whole amount may be counted. This amount will 
be required for cattle provided with warm and com- 
fortable stables and kindly cared for. If they have no 
other protection than an open yard or shed, one-half 
more should be added to the quantity named. This 
may seem a large allowance, but experiments made at 
the barn of the writer, and tested by actual weights, 
have demonstrated this difference between comfort 
and exposure, and the experience of hundreds of 
others have corroborated it. 

In the early settlement of the western world, barns 
were built everywhere by siding up a frame with 
boards not fully seasoned, w^iich shrank in course of 
time, leaving cracks between them half an inch or 
more wide. It was customary to arrange stables for 
the cows on one side of the barn, with their heads 
pointing toward the floor in the centre, the side next 
the floor not being boarded except at the bottom, to 
make a manger. The air streaming through the cracks 



Food for Dai?')' Stock. 8j 

in the side of the barn, carried the air warmed by the 
heat radiating from the bodies of the cattle, past their 
heads into the middle of the barn, and rising up, it 
went out through the cracks above. The cows were 
kept in a current of cold air but little different from 
being out of doors. As these primitive barns have 
been replaced by new ones with sides boarded with 
matched stuff, and with the exception of means for 
ventilation, the stables tightly boarded all round, so 
as to save all the warmth given off from the animals, 
it has been the uniform testimony of each farmer, as 
he placed his cows in his new and w^arm stables, that 
he required but two-thirds of th^ hay to keep his cows 
that he did before. Among the numerous farmers we 
have heard speak of their experience with such barns, 
there never has been any less estimate of the saving 
of food effected, I commend their experience to the 
consideration of the reader, and submit whether the 
first item in the economy of winter food for the dairy, 
is not the comfortable housing of the herd ? 

Supposing the cows to have been so well provided 
for as to have arrived near the milking season with 
flesh and strength unabated, preparation for spring 
may be entered upon by a moderate increase of feed, 
two or three weeks before the cows are expected to 
^'come in." This is necessary to increase their vigor 
to sustain them in the severity of approaching labor, 
and supply the rapid growth of the foetus. Some 
kind of grain should be used for this purpose. Corn 
is often used, but any other of the cereals is better. 
Corn is a little too heating for this period. Some 
food richer in albuminoids should be used, a mixture 
of different kinds of grain in which oats form a prom- 
inent item, has proved very satisfactory in the author's 



84- A merican Dairying, 

experience. But nothing fe'd at this critical season of 
the year has ever proved so efficient in good results as 
green and succulent food — beets, turnips, potatoes, car- 
rots, apples, cabbage, ruta-bagas, &c., all of which 
have seemed to serve the same purpose. They im- 
prove the general health of the animal, they are 
easily digested and assimilated, they increase the 
volume of the blood, making it thinner, and its circu- 
lation into the minute vessels more complete and even, 
and thereby aid most effectually in the relaxation of 
tissues and expansion of parts so necessary at this 
particular time. Where roots have been given two or 
three weeks in advance, labor has been easier and 
sooner recovered from, and the flow of milk has been 
larger than when they have not been used. Whether 
it will pay to raise roots to feed through the entire 
winter as a substitute for hay, may be a question, but 
that they contribute to the general health of the ani- 
mals at any time when fed in reasonable quantities, is 
not doubted. Though good at any time, they have a 
special utility in the spring. They not only prepare 
the cow for an easier labor, but they prepare the whole 
system for an easy and gradual change from foddering 
to grazing, so that no shock is felt. They cleanse the 
blood, and put the milk-glands not only, but the entire 
glandular system, in perfect working order, and thus 
extend their influence through the whole summer. 
When cows come in during the foddering season, there 
is nothing that will so well prepare them for a bounti- 
ful return during the whole remaining period of lac- 
tation, as a moderate use of green food while the 
foddering lasts. For feeding at such a time, it pays 
its cost many times over, let the question of profit at 
other times be answered as it mav. 



Food for Dairy Stock. ^5 

In the early part of the season the active state of 
the milk-glands will enable a cow to carry off in her 
milk all the nutriment she can digest above what she 
can assimilate. If there is any profit in milking at 
this season, it is in making her digest all she can. To 
this end she should not only be supplied with all she 
can eat of food rich in the elements of milk, but her 
dry food should be selected from such materials as 
will digest most easily and rapidly. The propriety 
of providing early cut hay for feeding at this time, 
will suggest itself, as its easy digestion and its richer 
and better nutrition, have already been explained, and 
need not be dwelt upon now. Of course no skillful 
feeder will select late cut ha}^, or ripe stalks, or straw, 
for cows in milk in the spring. But sometimes neces- 
sity compels their use. Though not the most profit- 
able food, they may serve a valuable purpose to carry 
a herd along to grass, and if skillfully compounded 
with meal, will give fair results. 



4'4 American Dairying. 



CONDITION OF FOOD FOR BOVINE DIGES- 
TION. 



The condition in which food is offered to dairy 
stock is sometimes a matter of no little importance. 
This remark will indeed apply to all stock, but from 
the peculiar construction of their digestive apparatus, 
it often has a special significance with respect to 
ruminants. The digestive apparatus of ruminants is 
peculiar, and food is handled by it in a different way 
from what it is in the stomachs of non-ruminants, and 
for that reason ruminants may be affected by the con- 
dition of food where non-ruminants would not be. 
A brief statement of the bovine stomach, will help to 
understand how it acts upon the food received, and 
how food affects it. 

The cow and other ruminants have a compound 
stomach containing four apartments. When coarse 
food, like grass, is eaten, it is only partially masticated 
at first, and, upon being swallowed, it is passed into 
the first stomach or paunch. This is the largest divi- 
sion and is about equal to the other three. It serves 
as a receptacle to hold the coarse half-ground food, 
till the animal has leisure to remasticate. From the 
'first stomach, it is gradually worked into the second, 
which is only an appendage of the first, lying close to 
the esophagus, and separated from the main part of 
the paunch by a partial diaphragm in the inside of the 



I 



Condition of Food for Bovine Digestion. Sy 

paunch that reaches in only a little way, and makes 
oYily a partial separation between the two divisions. 
From the outside appearance one would hardly sus- 
pect the second stomach to be a distinct division of 
the first. In the second division, the food is rolled 
into pellets, and by a spasmodic motion thrown back 
to the mouth. When remasticated, instead of going 
into the first stomach, as it did at first, it now goes in- 
to the third, or manifold^ as it is sometimes called. 
This is a nearly round body attached to the branching 
termination of the esophagus. It passes directly from 
the third into the fourth stomach, and the work of 
digestion is so far advanced that the labor of this 
division is quickly and perfectly performed. The 
fourth stomach is designed to receive food only in the 
plastic condition it assumes in passing through the 
other three divisions, with the added influence of re- 
mastication. It is not calculated to take in, like the first 
stomach, food in a coarse, fibrous state, unfermented, 
unsoftened, and unprepared by the partial digestion of 
the other divisions. The food of the entire bovine 
race, when taken in its natural condition, as grown in 
the forest or the field, always takes the course here 
described. The lower end of the meat-pipe branches 
out at its connection with the stomach, so that it can 
communicate with any of the first three divisions ; 
and to aid and insure the passage of the partially mas- 
ticated food into the proper receptacle, the termina- 
tion of the meat-pipe at its connection with the first 
stomach is lined with papillae, bent like card teeth, the 
action of which helps work the coarse food along to 
the place it should go. In their domesticated state, 
cattle do not always take their food in the coarse con- 
dition in which their digestive apparatus indicates it 



88 American Dairying. 

was designed to be received. It is desirable to feed 
them grain and other feed that is pulverized even finer 
than their remastication would make it. In this con- 
dition the papillae cannot grasp it to haul it along 
into the rumen, and through a passage way between the 
ends of the folds in the third stomach it passes directly 
into the fourth. Perhaps the will of the animal may" 
liave something to do with the direction the food 
takes. But certain it is that very fine food, like corn 
meal, when fed alone, goes directly into the fourth 
stomach, missing the other three, and the preparation 
for digestion they were calculated to give it. This I 
have repeatedly demonstrated, as any one else may do, 
by feeding meal to animals that were to be slaughtered 
immediately, and searching for it as soon as the 
stomach could be reached. 

There maybe some exceptions to this rule, as seems 
to have been recently demonstrated. First, when the 
stomach is entirely empty, meal, when fed alone, may 
either voluntarily or involuntarily go into the first 
stomach. L. W. Miller, of Stockton, N. Y., after 
feeding on an exclusive meal diet for a week, found 
the meal, apparently a mixture of each feeding, in the 
first and fourth stomachs, but the great bulk of it in 
the first. Second, A. W. Cheever, of the Neiv England 
Far?ner, fed a beef cow meal just before slaughtering, 
and found the meal all snugly stowed in the first 
stomach or paunch, where only coarse food usually 
goes. Others report finding meal divided when taken 
alone, a part of it going into the first and a part dis- 
appearing in the third division. In 1858-9, the author 
made a dozen or more experiments in feeding meal 
and other food with various degrees of fineness, just 
before slaughtering, and in every instance found the 



Condition of Food for Bovine Digestion. 8g 

fine food in the fourth stomach and the coarse food in 
the first. In some instances where food having differ- 
ent degrees of fineness was swallowed together, a sep- 
aration was made, the coarse going into the first and 
the fine passing on to the fourth. For instance, when 
corn in the ear was fed to yearlings, the pieces of cob 
and corn, down to a certain degree of fineness, dropped 
into the paunch, while the finer masticated part went 
on into the fourth. When an ear of corn was wrapped 
with a wisp of green hay, so that the hay and corn 
were ground together, the meal finely masticated ad- 
hered to the hay and all went into the paunch to- 
gether. Feeding corn in the ear worked differently 
with cattle of different ages. When fed to cows ten 
or twelve years old nearly all the corn passed directly 
to the fourth stomach, only the whole kernels and 
large fragments stopping in the first, and often whole 
grains passed by the first and lodged in the fourth. 
In yearlings and two-year-olds, a much finer grade of 
mastication was caught in the rumen, so that the corn 
was most of it lodged there. 

About 1862, Prof. E. W. Stewart, of Lake View, with- 
out any knowledge of the experiments just related, 
for they had not then been published, made some eight 
experiments in a similar way, using various kinds of 
fine food, with similar results, the fine food in every case 
going to the fourth stomach, and showing that, as a gen- 
eral rule, fine food is not deposited in the rumen when 
fed alone. How numerous the exceptions are, must be 
determined by further observations, and also, what 
causes the exceptions, whether they are controlled by 
the will of the cow, or whether in individual cases the 
structure ofthe digestive apparatus, by reason of domes- 
tication, varies so that without any special effort of the 



po American Dairying. 

animal, fine food in one case passes by the rumen and 
in another drops into it. And equally undetermined 
is the way in which fine food passes the third stomach, 
whether the manifolds fail to take up food comminu- 
ted to a certain degree, or whether by an effort of 
the will it passes through between the folds, while 
their action is suspended. The structure of the third 
division of the ruminants is so constructed that it 
would not, from inspection, seem probable that any- 
thing would be carried directly through it, but certain 
it is that food does, in certain cases, go direct from 
the mouth to the true or fourth stomach. 

The ruminant stomach is a complex organ and its 
action is so complicated as to be difficult to trace with 
exactness, so that its ways are not well known, and 
hence it is sometimes found doing what we would lit- 
tle suspect. 

From the peculiar structure of their stomachs the 
ruminants' mode of feeding is generally different from 
that of other animals. The non-ruminant herbivora 
take their food slowly and grind it well, because they 
can do nothing further to aid digestion after it is swal- 
lowed. The horse for instance, requires an hour to 
masticate properly five pounds of hay. A cow will 
eat the same in less than half the time and with fewer 
strokes of the jaw. This is characteristic of rumi- 
nants generally. 

They partially grind or crush their food and swal- 
low it into a receptacle suited to such food, but which 
could be dispensed with if the food was all fine when 
swallowed, and hence the inference that it is neither 
absolutely necessary nor natural for food already fine 
to go there. The coarse food to which this receptacle 
points as the kind on which the cow was intended to 



Condition of Food for Bovine Digestion. gi 

live, is more difficult of digestion than food more con- 
centrated and minutely divided, hence special pro- 
vision is made for reducing such food. From the 
membranes forming the receptacle into which it is first 
received, is poured a fluid slightly acid, and charged 
with a yeast which produces a gentle fermentation, 
which is the beginning of digestion. By an unequal 
but regular contraction and relaxation of fibers in the 
muscular walls of the reservoir, the whole mass is 
stirred up, kept in motion, mixed, warmed, softened 
and prepared in the best possible manner for easy, 
rapid and perfect mastication. In this condition, with 
digestion begun, it goes back through the second 
stomach to the mouth to finish the comminution be- 
gun when first swallowed. This done, it goes back 
into the stomach, but this time it goes into another 
division (3d stomach) filled with pendant folds, be- 
tween which it is rubbed and trifurated and pressed 
till much of the aliment is separated, and the whole 
so changed that when it passes hence to the fourth or 
true stomach, the work of stomach digestion is much 
more easily and perfectly completed than it would be 
had not this preparation been made by the other parts 
of the digestive apparatus. 

While this compound arrangement of stomachs en- 
hances the power of digestion as a whole, it is proba- 
ble, from certain physiological reasons, that the fourth 
stomach is not, when acting alone, as powerful as the 
single stomach of the non-ruminants, of which it is a 
proper representation. Though the appendages to 
the fourth or true stomach were evidently designed for 
coarse and not for fine food like meal, yet they can 
be made available for facilitating and perfecting the 
digestion of finely ground food. It has been already 



g2 American Dairying. 

remarked that when meal alo'ne is fed to cows it goes, 
as a rule, directly to the fourth stomach. To prevent 
this and ensure its passage into the rumen, wet the 
coarse food, whether cut or long, and mix the meal with 
it. It is better to cut the fodder, but it may be used 
long. By adhering to the wet fodder it is carried 
along with it into the rumen. The feed for this pur- 
pose should be ground as fine as possible. 

When it is desired to feed largely with ground feed 
there is quite an advantage in feeding in this way. 
The meal digests the easier for the preparation it has 
received in the rumen, and consequently more can be 
digested in a given time. In feeding cows for milkr it 
is desirable to induce the largest digestion possible, as 
the more food used the more milk. There is a limit 
to profitable meal feeding, and this limit is readily de- 
termined by the effect upon the health. When more 
is fed than can be digested the indigested meal will 
produce scouring, but so long as it is perfectly digested 
no such result will occur. A short trial will show that 
more ground feed can he giv^en without producing 
scouring, by mixing the feed with some coarse fodder, 
than when it is fed alone. If the quantity of fine food 
to be fed is small, the difference will not be very 
marked. A good way to feed meal is to mix it with 
sliced or pulped roots. Such has been the author's 
experience in meal feeding. 

The same reasons which have just been used apply 
to cooking food to hasten digestion. All food which 
digests slowly or imperfectly is benefited by being 
cooked or steamed. More food will be consumed in 
a given time and more nutriment obtained, and hence 
the more milk, or the more flesh and fat, will come 
from it. 



Condition of Food for Bovine Digestion. pj 

Rapid and perfect digestion are all important in 
feeding cows in milk. No animal can fatten rapidly 
or give much milk on food which the stomach has to 
labor with long and hard. To illustrate : straw and 
roots are quite similar in the proportions of their nu- 
. triment, but a poundof straw contains more than twice 
as much as a pound of roots. A cow can barely 
digest straw enough to keep the wheels of life going 
at a slow rate. She could neither fatten if she was 
dry, nor give milk without growing poor. But be- 
cause she can digest ten times as many pounds of 
roots as she can straw, she can consume enough to 
support herself and have a surplus left for producing 
fat or milk. . 

Unless it is Cooked it does not pay to feed straw, or 
other late cut 'feed, to cows in milk, because they can- 
not consume enough of it to allow of any profit, and 
the slow and imperfect manner in which common hay 
digests, is an objection to using it to the extent many 
dairymen do as the main food for the dairy. It is 
often a boast that cows have all the hay they can eat, 
but it is a boast which does not speak well for the 
largest returns. Hay will not allow of the best results 
in milk production. Dried grass will do very well ; 
but common hay would require an amount burthen- 
some for a cow to carry, an amount beyond the ca- 
pacity of her stomach, to yield the material for a good 
flow of milk without drawing on her store of flesh to 
produce it. The more I study the food of milch cows, 
the more am I inclined to limit the quantity of hay 
to the smallest amount which will afford a comfortable 
distention of the stomach, and make up the rest of the 
ration wnth food richer and more rapidly digested. It 
is the best way to get large and paying returns. 



p^ American Dairying. 

Green and succulent food is best for milch cows, 
but the succulence of food should not be in excess. 
Food containing more than about 70 per cent, of water, 
will produce more milk by evaporating the water in 
excess of that quantity. Green fodder corn, for in- 
stance, which contains from 80 to 85 percent, of water, 
will produce more milk by evaporating 10 to 15 per 
cent, of its moisture. Another item to regard 4n the 
selection of food for milk production, is that the 
digestible elements of the food should contain flesh- 
forming and respiratory matter in the same relative 
proportions, or as near as may be, as they exist in milk. 
If there is an excess of either, it will be fed at a loss; 
if a deficiency of either, the quantity will diminish. 
Where proper proportions do not exist they may be 
regulated by mixing different feeds. Thus fodder 
corn has an excess of respiratory matter; clover of 
flesh forming; by mixing the two both are fed more 
profitably. In grasses these elements are pretty well 
balanced, so they are in wheat and rye bran and various 
other foods. So far as milk is concerned, an excess 
of albuminoids occasions less loss than an excess of 
starch, sugar, and fat, and a deficiency of albuminoids 
will also occasion the greater loss. The quantity of 
milk varies pretty nearly with the supply of flesh pro- 
ducing food when other circumstances are equal. 

Water is an important article in the diet of any kind 
of stock. If possible, it is more so with dairy stock 
than with any other kind. It constitutes not only 
about 70 per cent, of the weight of the entire body, 
but 87 per cent, of the milk secretions. To supply so 
large an amount of water to the constantly wasting 
tissues and for the composition of milk, requires free 
access to it in abundance, at all times, or at compara- 



Co7idition of Food fo?' Boinne Digestion. pj" 

lively sliort intervals. In the pasture it is not enough 
that there is a sluggish pond or a dilch of brackish 
water, nor that a supply may be had if the animal 
travels a long distance to reach it. The quality of the 
water affects the health of the cow and the whole- 
someness of her milk secretions. Many impurities 
will at once show their presence in the diseased con- 
dition of the cow and in the deteriorated quality of 
her flow of milk. There are many organic germs, 
that enter into the circulation of the blood from bad 
water and appear in the milk secretions, ready to pro- 
pagate their kind whenever the conditions are favor- 
able. Whoever partakes of the milk introduces these 
germs into his or her system, where the conditions 
may be favorable for their growth, and their multi- 
plication may produce disease of a more or less 
positive form, often resulting in severe if not fatal 
fevers. These same germs have a similar effect in 
the system of the cow. So it is important, not only 
that the supply of water should be abundant, but that 
it should be pure— that is, as pure as clean spring or 
brook water, and fit for the use of man as well as of 
beast. And the accessibility of water is of no small 
degree of importance. Cattle will travel long dis- 
tances to get it, before they will die of thirst, but they 
v/ill often delay the journey and get excessively thirsty 
before performing it ; in consequence, when they 
reach the water, they injure themselves by an excessive 
draught, drinking until they feel not only uncomfort- 
able but actually suffer for some time, from a slow 
fever. This will always happen where the water is 
not only at the back end of the pasture, but at the 
back end of a large piece of woods, which contains 
little for them to eat, and through which and back 



tf6 American Dairymg. 

again they must make a special journey every time 
they drink. If the water is bad when they do reach 
it, then the injurious effects are doubly aggravated. 
In winter, cattle do not suffer so much from thirst 
but they need to drink scarcely less, if they are 
kept exclusively on dry feed. The purity of the 
water is also a matter of importance in winter, and 
it should not only be abundant, but easily accessible, 
for cattle will get very thirsty before they will go 
a long distance, on a cold, stormy or windy day, to get 
drink. Provision should be made for the weaker ani- 
mals — that is, the conveniences for getting water 
should be such that the weaker animals will not be 
kept long waiting, and possibly deprived altogether 
of drink. On a severe day, they will soon give up in 
despair and return to the stable, even though very 
thirsty, without drinking. Such an occurrence should 
be carefully guarded against. If they are long kept 
waiting, they get badly chilled, and if the water they 
drink is ice cold, the shock to the system is severe and 
either makes them sick or costs an extra amount of 
food to supply the consumption of tissue in heating 
up. Cows giving milk, if thus chilled, will shrink 
largely in their yield; indeed, even a slight chill, 
such as caused by leaving the stable and going to a 
trough in the barnyard to drink, has been observed to 
make a sensible shrinkage in the mess of milk. It 
will pay, both in the increased comfort and health of 
the cow, and in the lessened consumption of food and 
augmented flow of milk, to make provision for water- 
ing milch cows in winter, without chilling them, and if 
the water which they drink can be tempered to 60 or 
70 degrees, it will be an advantage. Of course, every 
dairyman must be governed by circumstances in 



Condition of Food for Bovine Digestion. p/ 

regard to water, as in other matters, but if he cannot 
provide all the best facilities and conditions for water- 
ing his stock, his aim should be to approximate them 
as nearly as possible by every reasonable care and 
expense of time and money. Often, only a little 
foresight and energy is all that will be needed to pro- 
vide every requisite. As an illustration of the im- 
portance of having water accessible in summer and 
of the effect of inaccessibility on the flow of milk, I 
will give a fact in my own experience. When I lived 
in Herkimer county, my cows ran in a pasture which 
usually had a good supply of water on the hill or 
plateau on which they did most of their grazing. 
Occasionally this water would dry up for a while, and 
the cows be compelled to make an extra journey of 
60 or 80 rods, into a deep gully to get drink. On 
every such occasion I at once noticed a shrinkage of 
fully ten per cent, in their flow of milk, besides a 
marked deterioration in quality. 



g8 American Dairying. 



THE DAIRY BARN. 



A dairy barn should be so constructed as to be con- 
venient for the herdsman, saving time and labor in 
the care of stock ; it should provide for the comfort 
and health of the herd ; it should afford ample space 
for storing provender; it should be a comfortable, 
convenient and cleanly milking barn ; and last, but not 
least, it should be conveniently arranged for disposing 
of and protecting the manure. 

These points have been well provided for in the plan 
here illustrated, taken from the barn of Peter Mulks, 
of Slaterville, N. Y. It is designed for the entire 
stock of cattle and horses, and for the hay and grain 
of a farm of 200 acres. 

It is 96 feet long by -i^^ feet wide with 25 feet posts, 
and has a wing 80x40, used as a grain barn, carriage 
house, and stables for horses. 

The main part of the building, which is designed 
for the dairy, is what we wish more particularly to 
call attention to. 

This is located upon a moderate slope, the side and 
one end resting upon mason work. The building 
stands with the longest dimensions east and west, with 
the west and front end, through which it is generally 
entered, facing the highway. Under the east end is an 
excavation extending under the building 24 feet and 
walled up on three sides, the east end being left open. 
It forms a space 24 feet long by 38 wide and 10 or 12 



TJie Dairy Barn. 



99 



feet deep, which is used as a manure shed. Under the 
remainder of the building the ground is levelled up 
with gravelly loam to the top of the wall, so that the 




main floor, A, in the centre, lies flat upon the ground 
instead of on timbers as is usual. The original design 
embraces a root cellar under a part of this floor. 



tore. 



too American Dairying. 

The internal arrangements will be understood by 
referring to the ground plan. The stables occupy 72 
feet of the front end of the barn, and are located on 
each side of the main floor, with the heads of the cows 
facing each other. Behind them is a floor, B B, five 
feet wide with an inclination of two inches toward 
the cows. Next to this is a gutter 10 inches wide and 
4 deep, made of 2 inch plank, very firm and tight. 
Next to this is the space, D D, on which the cows 
stand, sloping two inches toward the gutter. This 
space of 4 feet and 4 inches from the gutter to the bed 
piece which holds the stanchion, has no floor. The 
cows stand on a bed of gravelly loam, which has been 
pounded down and made firm and smooth. Mr. Mulks 
regards this as much better and more comfortable for 
the cattle than a wooden floor. 

The stanchions allow three feet to each cow. They 
are built in the usual way except the mode of fastening, 
which is very simple and safe. This fastening consists 
simply of a loop of three-eighths round iron, wide 
enough to let the ends of the upright pieces pass 
through it readily, and just long enough to drop over 
the movable upright and hold it in its place, the other 
end being dropped into a slot in the permanent up- 
right, where it is made fast by filling up the slot after 
the loop has been dropped in. (See section of stan- 
chion illustrated in the wing of the ground plan.) 
The upper end of the movable upright is made slant- 
ing, so that the end of the loop slides upon it and falls 
astride of it when it gets to its place. Though in use 
several years, a cow has never been known to get loose 
from this fastening. It is impossible for one to do so, 
because the loop lies flat on the top of the horizontal 
piece which holds the uprights, and a cow cannot 



TJie Dairy Barn. 



lOI 



possibly reach it. I have used loops made of No. 6 
iron wire, in the same way, which have proved per- 
fectly safe and satisfactory. 



1 


03 




• 




O 






1 1 1 1 1 1 1 : 1 1 1 1 Iml 1 1 M 1 i i 1 1 1 1 


> 


1 1 1 ! M 


M M M i"l M 


Mill 


1 1 1 




o 


o 





The mangers, E E, are two feet in the clear, with the 
bottoms raised four inches above the feet of the cow. 
A separate feed-box is made for each cow. It is formed 
by boarding up in front i6 or i8 inches, and separating 
their heads with a partition of two inch plank. The 



102 American Dairying. 

part over the manure shed is fitted up with stalls for 
transient horses and places for keeping calves in the 
spring, or for absorbents, as may be required. 

One of the essential advantages of dairying over 
other modes of farming is the better means it affords 
for maintaining and improving the fertility of the 
farm. The extent to which the manure heap shall 
contribute to this end depends very much upon the 
arrangements of the dairy barn for taking care of the 
manure. If stables are placed in a lean-to on either 
side of the barn, as is frequently done, and the manure 
thrown out of windows under the eaves, to be washed 
by the drippings of a wide roof, half the value of the 
manure will be lost by the waste of all the liquid 
excrement of the herd, and very likely, half the 
strength of the remainder will be steeped out and 
soaked into the ground where it is not needed, and the 
bulky remainder finally carried to the field worth only 
one quarter its original value — a minimum too small 
to maintain the fertility of the soil. A remedy has 
been sought in a manure cellar directly under the 
stable, into which everything is dropped through trap 
doors directly behind the cows. This makes a com- 
plete saving of all the manure, but the fumes from tlie 
fermenting mass in the cellar are constantly steaming 
up through every crevice and opening, and filling the 
room above with off'ensive air, unwholesome for the 
cows to breathe. 

All these defects are obviated in the plan before us. 
The manure shed, instead of being under the stable, 
is at one end and entirely outside of it, and is effect- 
ually shut away from it. It is open on one side so 
that all the effluvia that arises escapes into the atmos- 
phere, instead of being driven into the apartment 



TJie Dairy Barn. loj 

above. It is at the same time perfectly protected from 
the weather. The gutter behind the cows and the 
whole stable inclines a few inches, making it easy to 
wheel the manure to the shed, where it is dumped 
through the trap doors, T T. The saving of manure 
is complete, as all the liquid would find its way to the 
shed by draining if not otherwise provided for. But 
bedding and absorbents are always supplied for taking 
it up and it goes in daily with the solids. Whenever 
necessary, the gutter is rinsed out and the wash all 
goes into the shed and is saved. The droppings from 
the stalls, S, and from the horse stables in the wing, 
are also daily mixed with that from the cows, impro- 
ving the condition of both. One is prevented from 
heating too much and also acts as an absorbent, and 
the other from being too cold, wet and soggy. 

The high posts make the loft a capacious receptacle 
for fodder. It will easily hold loo tons. The bents 
are 12 feet distant from each other and divide the 
whole into eight equal parts. The timbers inside are 
arranged with a view to unloading with a horse fork, 
so that no beams are in the way. Beginning at the 
back side each division is filled separately and the fod- 
der can be taken out separately, if desired. As the 
filling progresses, a scaffold is laid over the driving 
floor. A, of plank, the ends of which reach to the scaf- 
folds over the stables and rest on 8x10 girts reaching 
from bent to bent. 

This, when the barn is filled, forms a complete cover- 
ing over head, utilizing all the room for storage and 
making the stables warmer in the winter by prevent- 
ing a too ready escape of the heat radiating from the 
cows. With the recent improvements in railway forks, 
such a barn could be filled by driving up to the front 



10^ American Dairying. 

end and taking the hay in through elevated doors and 
carrying it back, wherever desired, on an elevated 
railway, or the hay could be taken just within the 
front doors and elevated and carried back from there, 
easier than to drive in and back out through so long 
a distance, and save also the labor of moving and 
replacing the scaffold over the floor. 

Bins for holding feed are placed in the front end of 
the second story. The feed is elevated with a hoisting 
apparatus, and spouted down as wanted. The feeding 
and foddering is all done in the barn, and the arrange- 
ments for doing it are very convenient. 

The milking is also always done in the barn, and 
for this purpose it is located convenient to the dairy 
house and dwelling, which are combined. Conven- 
ience and comfort in milking are important considera- 
tions, and they have been well provided for. It is 
warm and comfortable in winter. The sides of the 
barn are boarded up with matched stuff and battened; 
the doors and windows are all snugly fitted, leaving 
no gaps for cold winds to rush in ; the cows stand 
upon the ground and the floor lies upon the ground, 
giving no chance for wintry currents to drive under 
and crowd up through cracks to reduce the tempera- 
ture inside to a level with that outside. The stables 
never freeze. 

In the summer it is cool and airy. The stables con- 
tain 46 stanchions, while the number of cows milked 
is usually about 30, so that there is no sweltering heat 
from cows being crowded together too closely. Ven- 
tilation is easy and ample. Besides the admission of 
air through the doors, there are large wickets in the 
sides of the barn above and behind the covn^s, as shown 
in the elevation, and direcLly behind each fourth cow 



The Dairy Barn. lo^ 

is a small door 30 inches square, opening down to the 
stable floor. These little doors are a happy arrange- 
ment. While the warm air passes out through the 
wickets above, the opening of these doors never fails 
to let in a current of fresh air that strikes directly 
upon each cow, which is enjoyed alike by the cow and 
her milker. 

The cost of the barn and wing was about $6,000. 
The main barn cost something over half this sum. 
Parties desiring to build with less expense could 
somewhat shorten the length of the stables for the 
number of cows, and build a cheaper manure shed. 
The wing will not generally be needed for a dairy- 
barn, as the accommodations it affords are usually 
found in other buildings, Avhich in Mr. M's case had 
been swept away by fire. A nice and substantial barn, 
capable of accommodating 30 cows, could now be 
built for $3,000, or probably less. 

Some years ago dairy barns were built only for con- 
venience in milking. When this was the main object, 
it was a very common practice to turn the heads, of 
the cows out toward the side of the barn, leaving a 
walk between the side of the barn and the manger. 
The hind parts of the cows were far enough apart to 
leave a clean place between, and room enoug;}! to 
travel and carry milk. So long as nothing but a 
milking barn was required, this arrangement was con- 
venient and well enough. But lately, soiling in the 
dry part of the season, at least, has become so common, 
and is now regarded as such a necessity for keeping 
up an unabated flow of milk, that preparation for 
feeding green fodder of some kind, to supply the fail- 
ing grass, must be provided for in the arrangement of 
the milking barn, where the cows are to be daily 



io6 



A)iicrican Dairying, 



herded. For this purpose the milking barns of the 
more modern times are arranged to place the heads of 
the cows toward each other, and the barn so arranged 
so as to drive through with a wagon load of fodder 
and throwing it off on each side. This convenience 
should never be lost sight of in the erection of a milk- 
ing barn, whether it is built separately or in connec- 
tion with other buildings. 





The use of the horse fork is now as much a necessity 
to the hay barn as the mow^er is to the meadow, and 
the frame of the modern dairy-barn should be adapted 
to its use, by leaving out as many as possible of the 
inside timbers, and by arranging those which must 
remain so as not to be in the way. For this purpose, 



The Dairy Barn. loy 

Frank Keeler, of Otto, N. Y., President of the Cat- 
taraugus Co. Farmer's Club, makes a very favorable 
disposition of the interior timbers of dairy barns. 
The accompanying illustration gives a view of the 
timbers for one of the middle bents of a barn built 
by him. For each bent there is a pair of " principal 
rafters," A A, framed into the outside posts just below 
the plates. A tenon on the end of the middle posts 
passes through them, and they are framed together 
and pinned at the upper ends. The whole bent is thus 
tied together so it cannot possibly spread. The true 
rafters are supported in the middle by a perlin which 
rests on the principal rafters, as shown at B B. The 
bents are prevented from spreading by tenons entering 
the sills, by the girts, C C, and by the " principal 
rafters," thus making the frame very firm while it 
leaves the space over head entirely free from any im- 
pediment to the fork, nor is there any "big beam," or 
anything else above thfe girts, in the way of passing 
the horsefork into the spaces between the bents on 
either side. 



io8 Anierica)i Dairyhig, 



THE OCTAGON BARN. 



Where a single building is desired to answer the 
purpose of a milking barn and winter stable, a hay 
and grain barn, a carriage house and horse barn, the 
octagon barn has some advantages which commend it 
to the favorable consideration of dairymen, to which 
it seems proper to call their attention. Its form is 
compact, and every part of it is easily reached from a 
single central floor; it affords- the most convenient 
arrangement for the use of the horse fork, as no 
interior timbers are required for supporting the roof. 
The roof can be made self-supporting and the space 
above the scaffolds thus left 'entirely free of timbers 
of any kind, thus giving a greater freedom of action 
for the horse fork than any other form. Next to the 
circle, it takes less wall and less siding to enclose a 
given area than any other shape. The difference in 
the cost of wall, siding, and timber, for building a 
separate structure for each purpose the farm requires, 
and furnishing the same room in a single octagon, is 
about one half. The difference between furnishing it 
in a single rectangular building and an octagon, is 
from Xs to X- 

The accompanying illustrations give an elevation 
and ground plan of a barn of this form, built last 
season by Prof. E. W. Stewart, of Lake View, Erie 
Co., N. Y. Jt is copied from the January number of 
the Live Stock Journal for 1876. 



I 



Th^ Octagon Barn. log 

The barn was built to replace four others which 
had been burned, and was designed to afford all the 
barn conveniences and storage for carriages and tools 
required for a farm of 250 acres. 

Its dimensions are 80 feet diameter, 28 feet posts, 
the sides being each :i^'i^ feet and 2 inches long. 

To give a general idea of an octagon barn, and how 
to arrange its interior, I cannot do better than to copy 
from Mr. Stewart's description of the barn here illus- 
trated : 

" This octagon has an outside wall of 265 feet, while the other 
four barns had an aggregate of 716 feet of outside wall, showing 
the great economy of this form in expense of wall and siding. 
If we compare it with a single barn 50x108, the latter will enclose 
the same number of square feet and have the same capacity at the 
same height, but requires fifty-one feet more of outside wall. The 
rectangular barn will also require many more interior cross 
beams and posts, which are in the way, besides adding to the 
expense. The long rectangle requires, for convenience, two cross 
floors, which take up more .room, and being separated, are less 
convenient than the single floor through the center of the octagon. 
The long barn requires posts and purlins to support the roof, 
which are obstructions in filling with hay and grain, while the 
octagonal roof of one-third pitch is self-supporting, resting only 
on the outside plates, and maybe safely stretched over a diameter 
large enough to accommodate a farm of 1,000 acres, or say 150 
feet in diameter. The plates perform the office of the bottom 
chord, and the hip rafters of the top chord, in a truss. The strain 
on the plates is an endwise pull, and if they are strong enough 
to stand the strain of the push at the foot of, the rafters, the bot- 
tom of the roof cannot spread, and the rafters being properly 
bridged from the middle to the top, cannot crush, and the whole 
roof must remain rigidly in place. Its external form being that 
of an octagonal cone, each side bears equally upon every other 
side, and it has great strength without any cross ties or beams, 
requiring no more material or labor than the ordinary roof. The 
plates are halved together at the corners, and the lips bolted 
together with four half-inch iron bolts [see fig. 4] ; a brace 8x8 



no 



American Dairying. 




s-\ \ \ \ \ \ 



I 1 I I I 1 'I 1 1 I 



M 




Fig. I. 
OCTAGON BASEMENT, (north side). 
Explanation.— A BCD, doors of basement ; E, drive-way through the cen- 
ter • N C south drive-way for cart to carry out manure ; O D, north drive-way ; 
M, 'spare room for root cellar or any other purpose ; L L, lying-m stalls lor cows ; 
K horse mangers : J, horse stalls ; F, forty cow stalls or stanchions, there should 
be no separation between these spaces and H ; G G, cow mangers ; H H, an open 
grated platform for cows to stand on, the manure falling through upon a concrete 
floor below. 

inches is fitted across the inside angle of the plate corner, with a 
three-fourths inch iron bolt through each toe of the brace and 
through the plate, with an iron plate along the face of the brace 
taking each bolt, the nut turning down upon this iron plate. 
Now the hip rafter (T), 6x12 inches, is cut into the corner of the 
plate, with a shoulder striking this cross brace, the hip rafter 
being bolted (with three-fourths inch iron boh) through the plate 
into the corner post. [See fig. 3.] Thus the plate corner is made 
as strong as any other part of the stick. There is a purlin rim 



TJie Octai-on Barn. 



Ill 




Fig. 2. 

OCTAGON BARN, (north elevation). 
Explanation. — P, plate ; R, tie-rod and bridging between rafters ; 
rim : T, hip rafters. 



S, purlin 



(S) of 8xio inch timber, put together like the plate rim, bolted 
under the middle of the hip rafters, which supports the interme- 
diate rafters. The hips may be tied to the intermediates by long 
rods half way between the plate and the purlin, if deemed neces- 
sary from the size of the roof (R). The north section of the roof 
(fig. 2) is represented as uncovered, showing the plate (P), purlin 
(S), tie-rod (R) and bridging between plate and purlin and the 
two sets of bridging above purlin, etc. It will be noted that, in 
this form of roof, the roof-boards act as a powerful tie to hold it 
all together, each nail holding to the extent of its strength, thus 
supplementing the strength of the plate-rim or bottom chord. 



112 American Dairying, 

It will be seen by fig. 2, that there is a drive-way fifteen feet 
wide through the center of the principal story from north to south. 
There is aline of "big beams " on either side of this drive-way, 
thirteen feet high, across which a scaffold may be thrown to 
enable us to occupy the high space over this floor. The posts 
being 28 feet high and roof rising 22^ feet, the cupola floor is 
50 feet above the drive-way floor below. The space above these 
" big beams" is quite clear of any obstruction, and a horse pitch- 
ing fork may be run at pleasure to any part. The bay for hay on 
the left side of this floor is 80 feet long, and has an area of 2,030 
square feet, and is capable of holding, when filled to the roof, 160 
tons of hay. This bay, extending along the floor eighty feet, may 
be divided into as many parts as required for different qualities 
of ha)% and each part be quite convenient for filling and taking 
out. 

On the right hand side of the floor is a scaffold, eight feet 
high, having the same area (2,030 square feet) for carriages, farm 
tools and machines below; above this scaffold is — a height of 18^ 
feet to the plates — a large space for grain, aflTording ample room 
for the separate storage of each kind to the aggregate storage of 
2,000 bushels or more. It will be seen that the large space in 
this barn is all reached and filled from one floor, saving much 
labor in changing from one floor to another, In our other build- 
ings we had six places for hay, holding less than this one bay, 
requiring the moving of the horse fork and tackle to six different 
bays, while in this bay the haying will begin and end, with room 
to spare. 

THE BASEMENT. 

Fig. I shows the basement as we intend to use it, yet there are 
many diflferent ways in which it may be divided for stock and 
other purposes. 

The drive-way through the basement is from west to east, 
being the feeding floor between two rows of cattle, with heads 
turned toward the floor. The floor is 14'/^ feet wide, out of which 
come two rows of mangers 2^ feet wide, leaving a space of 10 
feet for driving a wagon through, or running a car carrying food 
for the animals. There are places for twenty cows or other cattle 
on each side, leaving a space of 18 feet at the west end to drive a 
cart around behind the cattte on either side to carry away the 
manure and pass out at a side stable door, eight feet wide. The 



The Octagon Barn. iij 

horse stalls are arranged on the south side, but may be placed on 
either of several other sides, or on all. By placing tails to wall 
and heads on an inner circle, drawn twelve feet from the wall, 
with feed-box room three feet wide for each horse, Avith ample 
room at the rear, sixteen horse stalls may be arranged on south- 
west, south and southeast sides. But for 200 acre farms, generally 
no more than forty head of cattle and six horses would be kept, 
and for such our ground plan would be most convenient, because 
it furnishes easy access with a cart, both for supplying fodder and 
carrying away the manure. On our plan, we have much space on 
the north, northwest and northeast sides, which may be used for 
various purposes, such as root cellar, sheep fold for fifty sheep, 
or for stowing away tools, working wagons and implements. 

It \^11 be seen that the basement is not sunk in the earth, but 
on the north and south sides it is graded up to the floor of the 
second story, so as to make an easy drive-way into the barn. The 
base line, as represented on the drawing, is four feet below the 
general level of the land on the north side, but there is an open 
channel of water, into which every part is drained, on the south 
side. The earth on the east and west sides is scraped upon the 
north and south sides to grade up the drive-ways into second 
story. The basement is lighted by six windows of twenty lights, 
8x12 glass, and six of ten lights each. 

THE OCTAGON ADAPTED TO ALL SIZED FARMS. 

A little examination of this form of barn will not only show 
its adaptation to large farms, but to all sizes — from the smallest 
to the largest. A farmer has but to calculate how much room he 
wants for cattle, how much for horses, how much for sheep, how 
much for hay and grain, how much for carriages, wagons, tools, 
or any other purpose, and he can enclose just the number of 
square feet needed, and with the shortest outside wall; He may 
be liberal in his allowance of room, for it costs less, in proportion, 
as the size is increased. Suppose he requires for a fifty acre farm 
2,000 square feet of room; this would require a fifty foot octagon, 
or a 40x52 rectangle. Now he would require timber forty feet 
long for the latter, while he could build the octagon with timber 
for the gills and plates only twenty-two feet long, and this would 
be the. longest timber, unless he wished his posts higher. Each 
side would be only 20^ feet, and the wall for the basement 165 



114- American Dairying. 

feet long, whilst the other would be 184 feet long, saving rg feet 
of wall and siding by the octagon, requiring but eight cornier 
posts, and no intermediates, as the girts would be less than 20 
feet long. He would require no interior posts or beams, except 
those for scaffolds. All the ordinary purlin posts and beams 
would be saved, and the labor on them. It is easy, also, to see 
that a few feet added to each side would furnish room for another 
fifty acres, and so on to any size desired. This form of building, 
properly understood, would lead farmers to abandon the building 
of a separate barn for each specific purpose, and to providing for 
all their necessities under one roof." 

The octagon of Mr. S., which I had the satisfaction 
pf inspecting last fall, is a model of simplicity of 
structure, of strength and durability, of convenience 
and cheapness, all combined with architectural taste. 

Economy in cost of erecting, in time and labor 
of attendants, and the comfort and health of the stock 
to be cared for, has been, as it should be, considered 
in every feature from cupola to foundation. In the 
examination of this building I was as forcibly im- 
pressed with the economy and skill in the construction 
of the basement walls, as in the superstructure which 
rests upon them. 

Walls which are cheap, strong and durable, and 
non-conductors of heat and moisture, are important 
to the dairy farmer, as foundations and for basements 
to farm buildings and factories. They are in such 
requisition that I trust I cannot do a better service 
than to close these remarks on dairy structures with 
Mr. Stewart's account of the economy and mode of 
constructing concrete walls for farm buildings : 

CONCRETE WALL. 
*' The advantages of this mode of building walls are not suffi- 
ciently known, for when fully understood this wall must come 
into more general use. In many parts of the country suitable 
stone is not to be had, and, where stone is plenty, this mode of 



The Octagon Barn. ii^ 

using them is far preferable to the ordinary wa)^ of building a 
wall. The concrete, which would build a wall alone, may be 
used to cement the stone together, and thus save the cement 
which would occupy the space of the stone. In many parts of 
the country, small flat stones are thrown out by the plow and 
need to be gotten off the field. These will work into the con- 
crete wall and make an excellent job. They will have a firm 
bearing upon each other and thus render the wall strong befoie 
it sets hard. Care should be taken not to let stones come quite to 
the surface of the wall, but cover their edges with concrete. 
Concrete is more porous than stone and will not conduct heat and 
cold like stone. A. concrete wall will show no frost on the inside 
in winter, is drier and cooler in summer, and warmer in winter, 
than stones, and, therefore, it is well not to let the stone come 
within three-fourths inch of the outside. You can use any kind 
of cobble or irregular hard stone in this kind of wall, but it may 
be built of clear sand and gravel, the gravel being large or small, 
and stone may be mixed with the sand and gravel. 

WATER-LIME CONCRETE FOR FOUNDATIONS. 
If there is moisture to come to the wall, water-lime must be 
used, and it is well to carry two or three feet above the ground 
with concrete. The place should also be excavated one or two 
feet beyond the proposed wall, so as to leave an air-space on the 
outside, giving the wall a chance to dry and become hard. If, in 
any case, you go into the slate rock, which is always full of seams 
charged with moisture, you must not allow the concrete to be 
built against this rock, for the moisture in the rock coming into 
the thin mortar will cause the milk of lime to run out and leave 
an infinite number of fine pores through which water will run ; 
but if no water is allowed to come to it while drying, it will be 
water and air tight. It is also well to have a drain cut lower than 
the bottom of the wall on the outside, to carry oflf any water that 
might otherwise come against it, which will render the basement 
dry. 

PROPORTIONS OF WATER-LIME CONCRETE. 

If you have only sand to use, mix five parts with one of water- 
lime, thoroughly, while dry ; then wet into a thin mortar and use 
immediately. But if you also have gravel, mix the sand and 



ii6 American Dairying. 

water-lime, four to one, then mix into this five or six of gravel, 
make into thin mortar and use at once. This will make a con- 
crete of about nine to one. If 3-ou also have stones to lay with it, 
put these stone into the boxes and cover with this mortar, and all 
the stone you put in will save so much mortar and make your 
wall stronger while new. If you use only sand and stone, then 
mix the water-lime five to one, lay the stone with it. The way is 
to put a layer of an inch of mortar in the bottom and then a layer 
of stone, then of mortar and so on, letting the mortar come over 
the edge of the stone. 

PROPORTIONS OF QUICK-LIME CONCRETE. 
If only a basement wall is built, you ma)- use water-lime for it 
all ; or when you get so far above the ground that moisture will 
not affect it, you may use quick-lime, which is cheaper, and goes 
farther. If you live near a lime-kiln, it will be cheaper to get the 
fine air-slacked lime about the kiln, which will answer just as 
well, if you estimate only the fine lime and not the small stones 
in it. In mixing this concrete, take ten of sand and one of lime, 
slaking the lime thin before you mix in the sand ; now mix in 
ten or twelve parts of gravel, fine and coarse, and use this as a 
mortar to make the wall or lay the stone. Mix it all well 
together, and then wheel in a barrow and shovel into the wall- 
boxes. The sand and lime will fill all the spaces between the 
gravel and the stone, if you have any stone, cementing all 
together. The quick-lime may be mixed some time before using, 
as the mortar is all the better for it ; but it does not set so quick 
as water-lime, and must have more time between layers. But a 
quick-lime concrete is more porous, and, consequently, drier and 
cooler in summer and warmer in winter. The proportions will 
vary according to the strength of the lime. 

CONSTRUCTING THE BOXES FOR THE WALL. 
Having determined the place and excavated for the wall, con- 
struct the boxes as follows : Take 3x4 scantling for. the standards, 
a little longer than the wall is high ; place these on each .side of 
the proposed wall, as far apart as the thickness of the wall and 
the thickness of the plank for the boxes. The plank should be 
fourteen inches wide, one and one-half inches thick, and of a 
length to accommodate the wall. If the wall is thirty-two feet 



TJie Octagon Barn. ' iif 

long, then sixteen feet plank will be the right length. These 
standards would thus be placed fifteen inches apart; placing the 
plank inside the standards would leave twelve inches for the 
wall. These standards are held the proper distance at the bot- 
tom by nailing a thin piece of board across under ihe lower end, 
and the tops fastened with a cross-piece. The wall is built over 
these pieces at the bottom, and they afe left in the wall. The 
standards are plumbed, and made fast by braces outside. Now, 
it will be seen that these plank can be moved up on the inside of 
the standards as fast as the wall goes up. The plank on the out- 
side of the wall will, of course, be longer than those on the inside 
by the thickness of the wall. The door frames will have jams as 
wide as the wall is thick, and will make standards for that place. 
There will be a pair of standards at each end of the plank ; but 
the pair in the middle of the wall will hold the ends of both 
plank. To hold the plank from springing out between the stand- 
ards, take a piece of narrow hard-wood board, two feet long, bore 
a two-inch hole at each end having fifteen inches between them; 
put a strong pin two feet long through these holes some ten 
inches ; now these pins will just fit over the outside of the box 
plank, and by putting a brace between the upper ends will hold 
them tight against the plank, preventing their springing out. Two 
of these clamps will be required for each set of plank sixteen feet 
long. Now, when the box-plank are placed all around the wall, 
begin and fill in the concrete mortar and stone, as described ; and 
when you get round, if water-lime is used, you may raise the 
plank one foot and go around again, raising the wall one foot 
each day, if you have men enough. You will place the window 
frames in the boxes when the wall is raised high enough to bring 
the top of the frame to the top of the proposed wall. The jams 
and sills of the window-frames will be as wide as the door frames. 

COST OF THE CONCRETE WALL. 

The cost of the concrete wall for the basement of the 80 foot 
octagon — 265^ feet long, 15 inches thick at the bottom, 12 inches 
at top, containing 2,535 cubic feet — was $250; the item.s being as 
follows : water-lime 65 barrels, $90,35 ; lumber for door and win- 
dow frames and board on top of wall, $19.34 ; carpenter work, 
making window and door frames, fitting and plumbing standards, 
fitting plank boxes for wall, etc , $41 ; getting material and the 



ti8 American Dairying. 

n 
labor of laying the wall, $59.31, or about ten cents per cubic foot. 
This was the cost of a water-lime concrete, quick-lime costs less. 
Of course the cost of concrete wall will depend upon the con- 
venience of getting sand, gravel, stone and lime. It would take 
more lime to build altogether with fine sand, as the fine grains 
have so much greater surface to be coated with lime, but with 
sharp sand, one' of water-lime to six of sand, makes a solid wall, 
great care being taken to mix the sand and lime well together 
while dry. Mixed in this proportion, it would cost about six 
cents per cubic foot for the lime, but quick-lime, for the wall 
above the line of moisture, would cost about half as much. Yet 
it must be remembered that flat stone usually cost about ten cents 
per cubic foot, or the full cost of a concrete wall. 

In building a concrete wall the labor is very much less, as the 
help required to tend a mason will build more feet of concrete 
than the mason and tender both, on the common wall." 

The barn and basement cost Mr. S. as follows : 

For lumber f 1,167 19 

For nails, bolts, iron for gutters, hinges, &c 161 32 

For painting, glazing and n.aterials for same 139 65 

Fof water lime ; 9035 

For labor, including carpenter work 797 88 

For labor of farm hands, team, and board, estimated. . . 400 00 

Total $2,756 39 

An octagon of fifty feet diameter with basement 
walls eight and a half feet high, is estimated by Mr. S. 
to cost about ^800. 



Rearing Calves, . , j/p 



REARING CALVES. 



The question of rearing calves, when the milk of 
the dairy is converted into cheese, is one tliat fre- 
quently agitates the mind of the 'dairy farmer. The 
calf cannot be raised on whey alone. What, then, 
can be added to make it a good and economical sub- 
stitute'for milk ?. There is not much left in whey but 
sugar and mineral matter. The sugar is useful in sup- 
porting respiration and making fat, and the mineral 
is useful in making bone, but there is not much in 
whey to make flesh. The cheesemaker takes out four- 
fifths of the flesh-forming matter in milk. Supply 
this loss with something in a form that can be easily 
digested, and calves can live on the resulting mixture. 
A good many things can be substituted for the flesh- 
forming material in milk. The best and most con- 
venient is oil meal ; it needs only to be soaked in 
whey, and it is ready for use. A pound of oil meal a 
day, dissolved in whey, will be a good allowance for a 
calf three months old, and 175 pounds will be enough 
for six months. This, at $40 a ton, will cost $3-50., 

There are other substitutes — pea meal, bean meal, 
wheat flour, rye flour, buckwheat flour, fine middlings, 
or finely ground oat and corn meal, may be used. 
They should be scalded, to make them easy of diges- 
tion and to prevent scouring. They are all good 
remedies for scouring, when cooked, and are rich in 
what is required to lay on flesh. Peas and beans are 



120 American Dairying. 

about as rich as oil meal, and may be used in the same 
quantity. They make an excellent substitute for the 
lost caseine ; the flesh-forming matter, which they 
contain, is in a condition very similar to that of the 
cheesy matter in milk. They contain so much caseine 
that, when boiled to a paste, and properly seasoned 
and cured, they assume a cheesy flavor. If flour or 
meal is used, the quantity should be double, or a little 
more than double, that of oil meal, graduating the 
quantity to the age of the animal, and remembering 
that scalding is always necessary to make digestion 
easy and prevent scouring. Scalding the whey coun- 
teracts scouring, and improves it for feeding; but the 
whey must not get too sour. Oil meal is rather laxa- 
tive ; if it becomes too much so, its effects may be 
counteracted by using flour or meal in the place of a 
part of the oil meal ; whatever is used, should be well 
cooked, in the form of a thin gruel. Buckwheat 
flour has been used in this way, with excellent effect. 
Pea-meal used in the same way, is highly recom- 
mended by those who have tried it. Good calves 
have been raised on bean soup, and also on hay tea. 
The tea is made hy cutting the hay and steeping it in 
hot water; the soup, by boiling the beans until they 
become soft enough to mix with water, in the propor- 
tion of one pint of beans to two gallons. Calves are 
sogietimes fattened for veal on bean porridge. 

The natural food of the calf is milk, which is the 
most convenient and the least liable to get the calf out 
of health ; but, when it is too costly, calves may be 
successfully and cheaply raised by using one or 
several of the foregoing named substitutes, with a 
little addition of care and trouble. The mode of 
feeding may be thus stated: Let the calf suck until 



Rearing Calves. 12 1 

the milk is fit to use ; then taper off the use by feed- 
ing warm skimmed milk with a little whey, diminish- 
ing the milk and increasing the whey, until the milk 
is dispensed with, which may be done in seven or 
eight days. If oil meal is used, begin with a spoon- 
ful, soaked in hot water and stirred into the whey that 
is to be used for the day. Increase the oil meal a 
spoonful at a time, to balance the decrease of skimmed 
milk. When the milk is done with, use one pound of 
oil meal per da)^, dissolved in as much whey, or whey 
and water, as the calf needs for drink. Feed regularly 
twice a day, and always warm, until the weather 
becomes hot, when the temperature of the feed can be 
dropped a degree or two at a time, until it reaches the 
temperature of the atmosphere. No sudden changes 
should be made in the quality or condition of the 
feed of young calves ; they will do better if they 
are given a clean place and afforded shelter from 
the scorching sun and beating storm. This will 
also afford some protection against sudden changes 
of temperature. Good bright, early cut hay, sliould 
be provided for them as soon as three weeks old, 
until supplied with green grass, on which they should 
be gradually accustomed to rely. They should also 
have access to water, as they may desire, and salt 
should be supplied to them, either clear or in their 
food. 

Calves raised in this way require more care and 
attention than when raised on milk, but when they 
are properly attended to, and fed without pinching or 
gorging, they may be made at a small cost, to reach as 
good a growth at six months as if fed on milk, and 
they will make better cows for the dairy. Heifer 
calves designed for the dairy should be early accus- 



122 American Dairying. 

tomed to the use of herbaceous food for the purpose, 
of giving expansion and vigor to the rumen or first 
and largest division of the stomach. Feeding much 
upon milk and concentrated food does not give so 
good a development of stomach, nor a power of diges- 
tion suited to an after diet of grass, as an early habit 
of living upon food which has considerable bulk. Hay 
or grass should, therefore, form as large a part of the 
diet of the heifer calves as it safely can and keep them 
growing thriftily. It has been my experience and 
observation for years, that calves thus raised make 
better cows than those which have been pampered 
with milk and much concentrated food. 



MILK. 



It is not necessary to waste words in describing the 
appearance of milk. Every dairyman knows well 
enough that it is an animal secretion common to all 
mammalia for the first food of their young. He is 
also acquainted with its physical qualities, its color, 
its fluidity, its nutritious and wholesome properties as 
food for man as well as for the young mammal for 
which it was by nature especially prepared. While 
there are many things about milk which are obvious 
enough, there are many other things which are not so 
readily apparent, and which require careful observa- 
tion and attention to become acquainted with. Indeed, 
the study of milk is a long, and, in many respects, a 



Milk. 



1^3 



difficult one ; it has, so far, proved too difficult not 
only for the practical man, but even for the most 
critical observer. There are many things about cow's 
milk and its production, with which we are all in some 
respects so familiar, w^hich the most careful students 
have not yet been able to explain or comprehend. 
There are so many things in regard to it which are 
still unknown, that T could not if I would, make a 
complete account of it. 

In this little work I shall attempt nothing more than 
to point to such facts as have a practical bearing, leav- 
ing a more full and minute statement to some other 
hands, or for some future occasion. 

The necessity for a more complete knowledge of 
milk by the producer, the manufacturer, the scientist 
and the consumer, is fully appreciated by the writer, 
and he hopes to go far enough, at least, to awaken an 
interest that will inspire an enthusiasm to go farther. 

That the varied and extensive uses of milk call for 
an intimate acquaintance with its composition and 
peculiar qualities by the parties who produce, manu- 
facture, or consume it, must be apparent. Though 
one may learn to work by imitation, or by following 
rules which the experience of himself or others may 
suggest, and meet with tolerable success ; yet it must 
be evident that a full and complete understanding of 
all that relates to the materials to be dealt with, must 
give the operator many advantages which he would 
not otherwise be likely to make available. The better, 
too, the value of milk is understood, the more exten- 
sive will be its consumption, as well as the more per- 
fect its production and manufacture ; hence, the dairy- 
man should labor with the double purpose of learning 
all he can himself and communicating all the knowl- 



12/1- American Dairying. 

edge he can to others, with a view to a deeper interest 
in the whole community, and a wider consumption of 
his products. 

To the milk producer, XXi^food of his cow is his raw 
material, and his cows the machines by which it is 
manufactured into an available or marketable product. 
To the manufacturer, milk is the raw material, which 
is to be wrought into anew product for increasing its 
value or for preservation, by means of his own labor 
and skill. The producer, therefore, has a lesson to 
learn in the production and adaptation of his raw 
material, and in acquainting himself with the nature 
and habits, and the possibilities of his living machines, 
before he reaches the raw material of the manufac- 
turer. 

The production of food for the dairy embraces the 
soil and its management, and its adaptation takes in 
the varieties of food and their condition, both of which 
have been previously discussed and cannot be enlarged 
upon here. 

Milk, as an agricultural and commercial product in 
this country, is derived from the lactiferous glands of 
the cow, stimulated into activity by sympathy with an 
active state of the generative organs developed in 
bringing forth her young. Milk as an animal secre- 
tion is not, however, always the result of activity of 
the generative function. 

A moderate milk secretion may be induced in the 
mammary glands by manipulating them without any 
reference to reproduction, and before pregnancy 
occurs. This has many times happened with heifers 
by the frequent sucking of young calves, but it never 
occurs in quantity sufficient for profitable production, 
and hence need not be specially considered. 



Milk, 



125 



The milk of all animals is similarly constituted, 
being in every species composed of the same class of 
elements but in different proportions. The great bulk 
of them all is water. The solids in all are alike made 
up of supporters of respiration — fat and sugar ; of flesh 
and tissue forming material — caseine and albumen, 
and of such mineral matters as enter into the bony 
structure. 

The following table of Henry & Chevellier, quoted 
by Johnston, shows how these elements vary in some 
of the different animals : 



Caseine (albutninoids) 

Butter. . . 

Milk Sugar 

Saline matter 

Water 



WOMAN. 


cow. 


ASS. 


GOAT. 


1-52 


4.48 


1.82 


4.08 


3-55 


3-13 


O.I I 


332 


6.50 


4-77 . 


6.08 


5.28 


0.45 


0.60 


0.34 


0.58 


87.98 


87.02 


gi.68 


86.80 



4 50 
4 20 
5.00 
0.68 

8a 62 



This table is supposed to show the constituents of 
milk from the different animals in its average normal 
condition. 



ALBUMINOIDS IN MILK. 



In cow's milk about four-fifths of the flesh-forming 
material is caseine and one-fifth albunien ; the former 
is coagulable with rennet, the latter is not. The albu- 
men, however, coagulates when heated, if the milk or 
whey holding it is acid. The relativ.e proportions of 
caseine and albumen vary greatly with the food and 
health of the cow. Disease of any kind, especially 
when of a debilitating character, increases the per 
cent, of albumen and diminishes that of caseine. 

In all febrile diseases the aggregate of albuminoids 
is increased, and the su^ar and fat diminished. This 



126 American Dairying, 

increase of albuminoids is occasioned generally by an 
increase of albumen rather than of caseine. I have* 
not yet found caseine to increase in any case of disease. 
The largest per cents of caseine have occurred when 
the animal has been full fed and in the most perfect 
and vigorous health, and in active habits and in com- 
fortable condition. The per cent, of albumen is then 
the lowest. Albumen has been found to increase in 
almost every abnormal condition of the cow. Its 
increase is not limited to absolute disease, but it occurs 
in case of temporary pain, worrying, fright, solici- 
tude, grief, or insufficient nutrition, and in all those 
slight deviations from perfect health which occasion 
tainted milk, caseine diminishes and albumen increases. 
The following analysis will give an illustration of 
the effect upon the albuminoids of milk by a slight 
deviation of health. The herd of cows, fourteen in 
number, from which the milk came, was supported 
partly by grazing upon a short pasture of timothy and 
clover, partly by shorts wet with water, and partly by 
fodder corn — all good food, and enough of it to pro- 
duce a liberal flow. The circumstances which affected 
their health were exposure to hot sunshine in a pasture 
without shade, and drinking water from a pond-hole. 
The principal cause was the stagnant water, but tests, 
several times repeated, proved that the effects were 
aggravated by hot sunshine. The following analysis 
made August i8th, 1873, is similar to several others 
made about the same time : 

ONE HUNDRED PARTS OF MILK GAVE 

Water 88. 50 

Butter 2.50 

Caseine and Albumen 6.25 

Sugar 2.00 

Ash 75 



Milk. 



i2y 



At that season of the year, with such food as these 
cows were using, their milk, if in perfect health, 
should show in loo parts : 

Water 87.00 to 87.35 

Caseine and Albuminoids 3.25 to 3.50 

Bulter 3 50 to 4.00 

Sugar 550 to 4.50 

Ash 75 to .65 

The great disproportion between the albuminoids 
and the butter and sugar in the milk of the affected 
cows, is a common result where fever and debility 
exist, as they did in this case, though the owner had 
not even suspected that his cows were at all affected. 

Notwithstanding the very large amount of caseine 
and albumen when weighed together, samples of the 
milk when curdled with rennet gave no extra results 
in curd, and the whey when scalded with a little vine- 
gar showed an abundance of albumen, indicating that 
the unusual per cent, of nitrogenous matter was albu- 
men rather than caseine. 

In a state of perfect health the variations in the 
albuminous matter in milk do not appear to be very 
great. The quantity of the milk, more than the per 
cent, of the nitrogenous matter, is affected when such 
matter is largely fed. But variations in the nitroge- 
nous elements of the food affect the per cent, of such 
elements in milk within certain limits. 

In conditions of perfect health, and especially in 
the early part of the milking season, the caseine in 
milk, as well as oth^r nitrogenous matter, is in a state 
of complete solution and colorless, and with the sugar 
and mineral matter, is in chemical union with the 
aqueous portion of the milk. In the latter stages of 
milk giving, and in cases of inflammatory disease, I 



128 American Dairying. 

have found the caseine in a solid form in very minute 
and irregular shaped atoms, whose presence gives a 
deeper opacity to the milk. These atoms are some- 
times so abundant as to settle to the bottom of the 
vessel in which milk stands for several hours. 

• 
FATS IN MILK. 

The fats in milk are in a solid state, and are the 
only solid matter usually found in milk ; they exist 
in the form of very minute globular atoms and are 
known as butter globules. These butter globules^or 

as they are by some called 
the milk globules, are sus- 
pended in the liquid mass 
and float about in it freely, 
whitening every part with 
their presence. They ordi- 
narily appear round, or 
egg-shaped in form, but in 
size they are very unequal, 
varying from tAtt down to 
tijVtt of an inch in diameter. 
When viewed under a microscope with a magnifying 
power of 300 diameters, newly drawn milk has the 
appearance represented in the annexed figure. 

Upon the structure and treatment of these infinites- 
simal bodies, depend the dairyman's success in butter- 
making, and it is therefore important that he should 
be as familiar with them as possible. A clear knowl- 
edge of a few leading facts in regard to them will be 
found more efficient in leading to desired results, than 
the haphazard labors and blind imitations of rules 
made by parties ignorant of the structure and pro- 




Milk. 



I2g 



parties of the things they are handling, thougli the 
operators may boast of long years of experience. 

Examining milk with a strong magnifier we discover 
that globules of fatty matter, of unequal dimensions, 
float mechanically in the watery mass, and further 
investigation has shown that these little bodies, minute 
as they are, are made up of atoms of several kinds of 
fats, in a state of combination with a little nitrogenous 
matter and water, the whole enclosed in a very thin 
pellicle of membraneous material. If the reader can 
imagine that the little circles which he sees in figure 
12, are sectional views of the milk globules, they being 
divided through the center as one would cut an apple 
in halves with a knife, the black lines that indicate 
their circumference will represent a section of the 
pellicles or sacks, and the interior will represent the 
fats which they enclose. Now, let him bear in mind that 
the little atoms of fatty matter, thus enclosed, are com- 
posed of white and yellow fats, and severar varieties 
of volatile oils, all mingled together, and that the real 
diameter of the circles is only a three-hundredth part of 
their size as represented in the above figure, and 
he will have something near a correct view of the 
size and stixicture of these little globules, which play 
such an important part in dairy husbandry, and which 
contribute so largely to the luxuries of the table, in 
all the civilized countries of the world. 

The fatty matter which enters into the composition 
of these butter globules consists of four varieties. 
The hardest of them is stearine, which when separated, 
is a hard, white, flaky appearing fat. The second in 
consistency is palmatine, which resembles palm oil; 
nsost of the coloring matter in butter is connected 
Avith this fat. The third is called oleine, from its thin, 



I JO American Dairying. 

oily consistency. The fourth consists of essential oils 
of the food of the cow, and which, probably, are as 
numerous as the varieties of food she consumes. 
These constitute the fats of which butter is made. 
Their origin is not perfectly clear ; they are all ulti- 
mately derived from the food of the cow, but how 
much of them is derived directly from the food, and 
how much is elaborated in the body of the animal out 
of other elements of food, is not well established. 
Their characteristics change with the condition and 
quality of food, and with the constitutional peculiari- 
ties of .cows. The fats from different cows living on 
the same food, are often quite unlike, and in the same 
cow, they change their color and their density with 
the variations in the food as to age, succulence, and 
abundance and scarcity of fats in it. Young food 
generally gives a higher flavor and color to them, 
than that which is mature or approaching maturity. 

When in combination the specific gravity of the 
whole is about 940, water being 1,000. The several 
fats when separated, have not any fixed standard of 
specific gravity. The essential oils which enter into 
the composition of the globules, is of course, very 
light ; the solid fats vary very much in tlieir gravity. 
They are usually heavier in the following order : 
stearine, palmatine, oleine, but I have seen this order 
reversed. 

Besides the fats and oils enclosed in the globular 
bodies described, the liquid mass of the milk is 
charged with numerous oils, so light and volatile as 
to escape easily by exposure to the air, or by raising 
the temperature of the milk. These give flavor to the 
milk and its products, and act an important part i-n 
the digestion of the milk when used as food, and also 



Milk. 



ni 



in varying the butter and cheese made from the milk 
that contains them. Among these volatile oils, is 
the one imparting the animal odor. They consist 
of essential oils in the food of the cow, which have 
not entered into the combination of fat in the globules, 
but remain loosely mingled with the milk. 

SUGAR OF MILK. 

The most weighty element in the dry solids of nor- 
mal milk is sugar; it constitutes about tj of their 
weight. When separated and clarified it is perfectly 
white and forms into very hard crystals, much harder 
than those of cane or maple sugar. It is harder than 
any of the vegetable sugars and has less saccharine 
flavor. 

The sugar of milk is remarkable for its very low 
sweetening power and for its stability. It is said when 
pure to undergo no ciiange neither in a crystalline or 
liquid state; but as it exists in milk it is very sus- 
ceptible to change, more so, probably, than any other 
element in milk ; by absorbing oxygen it is with 
great rapidity and ease converted into lactic acid and 
is thus the cause of the sourness of milk. The rapid 
changes in milk and its unstable character, are due to 
the ease with which this sugar ferments. In Switzer- 
land it is largely separated for commercial purposes, 
but in this country it is not separated, but goes as 
food for swine. 

SALINE CONSTITUENTS OF MILK. 

Like all the other solids in milk the saline constitu- 
ents are very variable, ranging from two-tenths to one 
per cent, of its weight, the average being about seventy 



IJ2 Americmi Dairying, 

to seventy-five hundredths of one per cent. The most 
prominent ingredient in the ash of milk is phosphate 
of lime. This constitutes about one-half of the whole 
ash. The next largest is chloride of potassium, which 
amounts to about one-fourth of the ash, so that three- 
fourths of the ash of milk, or thereabouts, are made 
up of these two minerals. 

A cow giving 4,000 pounds of milk a year, exhausts 
the soil of twenty-eight to thirty pounds of mineral 
matter, one-half of which is phosphate of lime, and 
one-fourth chloride of potassium. The rest of the 
ash is made up of soda and chloride of sodium and 
the sulphates of iron and magnesia. 

Prof. Jas. F. W. Johnston quotes from Haidlen two 
analyses of the ash of milk, which will show how milk 
production exhausts the soil and how to restore the 
exhausted minerals. The analyses are as follows : 

THE ASH OF I,000 LBS. GIVES I. 2. 

Phosphate of lime 2.31 lbs. 3.44 lbs. 

Phosphate of magnesia 0.42 " o 64 " 

Phosphate of peroxide of iron 0.07 " 007 " 

Chloride of potassium 1.44 " 1.83 " 

Chloride of sodium 0.24 " c.34 " 

Free soda 0.42 " 0.45 " 

MILK SECRETION. 

As the form of a tool is indicative of the purpose it 
was made to serve, so the anatomical structure of an 
organ in an animal body affords an evidence of the 
function it was made to execute. The study of the 
udder therefore is one of the most direct and efficient 
means of studying the way in which the secretion of 
milk is effected. I shall not assume the task of 
unraveling all the mysteries of milk secretion, but 
having given some attention to the structure of the 



Milk. ijj 

udder, I shall venture a few observations descriptive 
of that organ, in hopes that what has proved very- 
interesting to me, may at least afford something of 
interest to others. 

The extraordinary development of the mammary 
glands upon the domestic cow, is to a large extent, 
the work of art, since nature furnished only enough 
with Avhich to elaborate food for the offspring. As art 
does not always use precisely the same means, it does 
not always lead in precisely the same direction with 
its developments. The irregularity of art shows itself 
in the development of the bovine udder. It is not 
always uniform, externally nor internally. It is not 
only different upon different breeds of cows, but it 
varies in different individuals of the same breed, and 
the corresponding parts of the same udder are not 
always uniform. 

For the sake of giving actuality to the description, 
I will describe an udder taken from a choice six year 
old cow, four weeks from the time of calving, and in 
as good a condition as it could well be for examination. 

Considered as a whole it was made up of four dis- 
tinct glands or lobes, one for each teat, bound together 
by membraneous tissue, and covered by a pouch of 
skin in which it seemed to be suspended, and to which 
it was snugly bound by the same kind of tissue which 
attached the lobes together, and also by nerves, blood 
vessels, and minute tubes and tendons. While mem- 
braneous tissue surrounds the whole, each lobe has 
an envelope of its own, which is attached to the others 
where it comes in contact with them. 

An arterial branch of considerable size entered dkch 
lobe, and also several smaller ones, the origin of 
which was not traced, by which each quarter was sup- 



134 



America7i Dairying. 



plied with blood. So far as traced, the arterial 
branches were neither uniform in size nor in their 
mode of division nor subdivision. There was an evi- 
dent difference in the quantity of blood supplied to 
each quarter of the udder, and especially between the 
front and back lobes, and also between the two back 




FiS- 13- 



lobes. But few observations were made upon the 
venous system of this specimen. The lactiferous ves- 
sels' were more carefully observed. In each quarter 
of the udder these were entirely separated from each 
other, and in each were differently arranged. 



Milk. 



135 



Beginning at tlie lower end of the teats we have an 
aperture closed by an elastic band. Proceeding up 
the teat, we have in it a cavity enlarged in the middle, 
when injected, as seen in figure 13. At the top of 
three of the teats there was a diaphragm separating 
the cavity in each teat from a little larger cavity above 
it, with a hole in the middle of the diaphragm about 
the size of a pea. The cavities above the teats an- 
swered as little reservoirs for holding milk. That over 
the right hand teat, when distended, was about the size 
and shape of a turkey's q^% with the large end down. 
Those of the front teats were the size and form of a 
hen's ^^%. Over the left hind teat the diaphragm was 
wanting, and the cavity above opened directly into 
that of the teat as shown in figure 14. 

From the little reservoirs 
at the top of the teats were 
tubes running in different di- 
rections through each gland, 
which were frequently cut 
off by still smaller reservoirs 
distributed all through each 
gland, as indicated in fig. 
12. These little reservoirs 
were more abundant, and 
larger in the lower and outer pi^, ^_ 

parts of each lobe, diminishing in size and frequency 
as they rose toward the upper part. They varied in 
size from a hickory nut to a pin head. There was but 
a single one the size of a hickory nut, the majority of 
them were of the size of beans or peas and so down, 
till they disappeared in the upper part of the udder. 

The tubes which connect the reservoirs were, some 
of them, larger in the middle than toward the ends, 




/J<5 American Dairying. 

and by connecting with different reservoirs, anasto- 
mosed like blood vessels. At each end of the tubes, 
where they enter and where they leave the reservoirs, ' 
is a diaphragm similar to those at the top of the teats, 
which stretches over a part of each end of the tube, 
leaving, as over the teats, a hole in the middle. The 
diaphragms at the top of the teats and at the ends of 
the lactiferous tubes are all alike made by an exten- 
sion of the mucous membrane lining the inside of the 
tube. Where it doubles over to form the edge of the 
aperture, it encloses a small cord which swells out the 
folds a little, giving the appearance of a hem running 
around the edge of the aperture. The contraction of 
this cord closes the aperture. It is a very delicate 
thread. It is made up, not of fleshy fibers like ordi- 
nary muscle, but of very fine elastic fiber-like spiders' 
webs, so fine that five hundred of them were judged 
to form one of these little threads. In the center of 
the udder and between the four glands is a large and 
strong tendon leading from the abdominal muscles 
and passing down between the four glands or lobes, 
where it soon divides up into branches like the brush 
of broom corn, which again divides and subdivides till 
the threads become too fine to follow with the unaided 
eye. 

These ramifications connect with the little cords 
just described and which appear to be terminations of 
the filaments of the tendon passing around the aper- 
tures in opposite directions, so that when the cow 
contracts the abdominal muscles By drawing up her 
abdomen as she always does when she holds up 
her milk, she pulls on these ramifications and closes 
all the apertures with one effort, and prevents the 
milk from flowing. It i§ in this way that cows 



Milk, ijy 

hold up their milk at will. When the abdominal 
muscles are contracted the tubes begin to close, first 
in the upper part of the bag where the apertures in 
the diaphragms at the ends of the tubes are very small; 
a more vigorous effort closes the larger ones below, 
the last ones to close because the largest are those at 
the upper end of the teats. It requires a powerful 
effort to draw these so tight that milk will not pass 
through them, but when much disturbed, there are but 
few cows which are not able to close them perfectly. 

The minute filaments of this central tendon have 
attachments elsewhere than in the fibrous cords. They 
fasten all through the udder and in the skin, so that in 
holding back her milk, the whole udder is contracted 
and held firmly. These filamentary divisions were so 
extremely fine and difficult to trace that they could 
only be followed by dissolving away the soft parts 
with an acid. 

In each quarter of the udder the system of tubes 
were found to divide and subdivide each in a different 
way, so that when dissected out they were as unlike 
as the divisions and subdivisions of the branches of so 
many different trees. They all alike start from, or 
empty into, the reservoirs over the teats, but the num- 
ber of tubes starting out were in each case different 
and differently located. Twenty- three tubes led out 
of the reservoir at the top of one hind teat, and 
seventeen out of the other; twenty-one started from 
over one forward teat, from the other side the num- 
ber was less and differently arranged, showing an 
independent and special action in each division so far 
as secretions were concerned. 

The bulk of the udder is made up of a mass of cells 
and vascular membranes, through which the lactiferous 



IJS 



A inericait Dairying. 




tubes penetrate. In the up- 
per part of the glands where 
the structure was less dis- 
turbed with reservoirs than 
below, the arrangement into 
lobules was quite regular as 
in figure 15, which gives a 
magnified view. 

Into these lobules the lac- 
j?;^_ ^,-. tiferous tubes ramify with 

great minuteness to take up the 
milk which the glands secrete. 
Magnifying one of these lobulated 
divisions till the ultimate follicles 
could be seen, we have a view as 
seen in figure 16. The follicles are 
covered with a membrane, the cells 
appearing upon the inside of it 
from which they seemed to eman- | 
ate. The investigations and opin- 
ions advanced by Dr. E. L. Stur- 
tevant, of Mass., have been very 
fully sustained in these examina- 
tions of the ultimate follicles which 
at twenty-eight days from the time 
the cow came in were in the best 
possible condition for studying. 
The gland cells, as he suggests, 
appear to start out of the inside of the membrane like 
blisters, whose contents are fat. Others follow behind 
them in succession, crowding them along, till the first 
formed separate and are shed off" like leaves in autumn, 
or as sucking teeth give place to those Avhich come 
after them. 




Fig-. lb. 



Milk. /jp 

The liberated cells, completely enveloping a speck 
of fat, find their way out of the follicle through the 
vascular membrane which connects it with the minute 
terminations of the lactiferous tubes, where by the 
aid of the liquid part of the milk they are worked 
along through the system of tubes and reservoirs, till 
they pass out at the teat in the form of what are dif- 
ferently known as milk globules, cream globules, fat 
globules, and butter globules. 

When not filled with secretions the interior cavities 
of the follicles collapse and make the substance of the 
gland appear like a solid mass, but when cut into thin 
slices and highly magnified, it appears extremely vas- 
cular and exposes a great extent of surface. It then 
appears like a net work, or sieve, through which 
liquids could pass with great freedom. The secretion 
of the liquid portion of the milk evidently proceeds 
very slowly, but the yast extent of surfaces it has to 
exude from, enables the udder, as a whole, to collect 
considerable quantities in a given time 

That the milk globules were once gland cells, is 
corroborated, first, by the fact that they have the same 
size ; this was demonstrated by Dr. Sturtevant by 
actual measurement. Second, they have the same 
form; when viewing them under circumstances which 
would exhibit their exact form, I have found them 
to be alike, neither of them being exactly round. 
Third, the covering of the globule is a membrane, 
and not caseine, as many have supposed ; that it is a 
membrane is shown by the fact, that when treated 
with nitrate of silver the globules give the same 
reaction which is given by other membranes, em- 
bracing fat, (suet,) turning them to straw color. 
Caseine, when treated with nitrate of silver gives a 



1 4-0 American Dairying. 

different reaction^turning black. Fourth, while it has 
been supposed by some, that specks of fat when float- 
ing in the liquid milk in which albumen and caseine 
are in solution, become coated over with solidified 
caseine and thus derive their delicate covering, 
others have supposed that the minute particles of 
fit become incisted while in the blood vessels, and 
that they are secreted from the blood ready formed. 
The fact that milk globules sometimes exist without 
containing any fat is a sufficient refutation of both of 
these theories. I have found that instances occur 
in which a part of the milk globules contained only 
serum so attenuated, that when dried down, the walls 
of the pellicle enclosing it would collapse and appear 
perfectly flattened, while others retained their rounded 
form, showing them to be filled with fat. In an extreme 
case the milk of a cow which would not make butter, 
had part of its globules filled with fat so that they 
remained round when dried, others with various 
degrees of depression, but fully one-half appeared to 
contain no fat at* all, as they were perfectly flattened 
by drying. In several cases the pellicles covering the 
serum became adherent and shrunk and tore apart in 
the middle from the edges sticking to 
the glass, showing various fractures. 
An enlarged view of one of these frac- 
tures is shown in figure 17. 

By examining milk with the early 
Fig. 17. morning sun and turning the reflector 

so that the globules would cast no shadow, I have 
been able to use a stronger light and get better views 
than I could with the mid- day light. Under this mode 
of inspecting, several cases have been met with in 
which a part of the globules showed no fat, while 




Milk. 



tp 



Others showed to be part full, and the great bulk of 
them entirely full of fat. Though the gland cells of 
the udder are generally filled with fat, it would seem 
a very easy matter for some of them, under peculiar 
circumstances, to form without fat, and hence account 
for the occurrence of fatless globules in milk if the 
cells at length become globules, and it would be diffi- 
cult to account for them in any other way. 

COLUSTRUM. 

In the latter part of the period of gestation, by 
reason of a sympathetic influence exerted upon the 
udder, the blood vessels leading to and from it begin 
to enlarge, and the circulation in it to become more 
active, and assimilation more rapid, its whole struc- 
ture becomes increased in size, and it^ vessels engorged 
with blood. The result 
of this unusual activity 
is increased heat, and 
presently the formation 
of gland cells. These 
begin to form in the 
follicles, to the sides of 
which they remain at- 
tached, as in A, fig. i8. 

At birth, or a little 
before, the liquid part 
of milk begins to be 
secreted, holding sugar, 
caseine, albumen, and ^ Fig.is. a 

certain mineral matters in solution, and to accu- 
mulate in the iimier, when the gland cells begin to 
shed off; sparingly in heifers, but more freely in older 
cows. At first the cells appear to break off" very fre- 




ro°0o 



tp 



American Dairying. 



quently in clusters, peeling off some of the membrane 
of the follicle with them, as shown in figures 19 and 
20, which 2ire fac similes of the first milking of the cow 
whose udder has just been described. They were 
drawn by the aid of a camera and accurately engraved ; 
they show some large and many irregular pieces of 
membrane, with more or less cells attached, which. 




fig. IQ. 
COLUSTRUM. 

from the feverish condition of the bag at that season, 
sloughed off with the cells before they fully became 
milk globules. As the inflammation abates and the 
action becomes more regular, the membrane disap- 
pears, and the cells only are mingled in the milk. 
When these clusters no longer appear, the milk is con- 
sidered fit for human use, or for manufacture into but- 
ter or cheese. Some dairvmen are in the habit of 



Milk 



H3 



saving the fifth milking; it is sometimes good, but 
oftener not. I give an illustration of the fifth milking 
of this cow, fig. 2 1, which seemed to be full as well as 
cows generally are at this time, in which specks of 
colustrum are seen. It often requires five or six, or 
more days, before they entirely disappear, according to 
the health of the cow and the extent of inflammation in 




Fig. 20. 
COLUSTRUM. 

the udder. When the milk will boil without curding, it 
may be regarded as fit for use. This is an efficient and 
convenient test of fitness for use. 

The analyses of colustrum vary very widely in their 
per cents of fat as^ell as other elements These dif- 
ferences are doubtless owing more to the particular 
condition of the udder at the time of coming in, than 
to any other cause. 



144- 



A m erica n Da iry ing. 



The treatment of the cow, at and previous to the 
birth of her offspflng, has very much to do with the 
condition of her udder and the quality of her first 
milk. There can hardly be a doubt that an abundance 
of fat in the blood, stimulates the formation and mul- 
tiplication of gland cells, and hence milk globules, 
and that a paucity of fat diminishes the extent of their 




Fig. 21. 
FIFTH MILKING. 

formation. It has been my observation for years, that 
where cows are fed chiefly on unstimulating and flesh- 
forming food before coming in, such as clover hay, 
pea meal, bran or shorts, the bag remains pliable and 
soft, and if the milk is drawn out in season, there is 
not 'a very wide difference between the first milk and 
that which comes afterward. But if corn meal, oil 
meal, cotton seed meal, or other food, very rich in fat, 



Milk. 145 

enters freely into the diet of cows before calving, their 
bags swell up to a very large size and are hard and 
inflamed, the follicles become distended as in B, figure 
18, because of the greatly increased number of cells 
which the rich food has stimulated while they are still 
adhering, and they become hard and inflamed, and it 
is difficult to reduce the inflammation afterward; the 
colustrum is high colored and thick, and full of cells 
with pieces of membrane attached, and they continue 
in the milk for a long time. It is not very uncommon 
for cases of garget, which ruin a part or the whole of 
the udder, to follow high feeding with food too rich in 
fat, before cows come in, especially in young heifers. 
The feed before coming in should be generous and 
nutritious, but it should abound in flesh-forming 
rather than in fat-forming elements. Early cut clover 
is one of the best things I have fed at such times, and 
corn meal and oil meal have proved the most danger- 
ous. After cows have been in milk awhile and their 
bags have become reduced, corn meal and similar food 
may be fed with altogether different results. The 
fat then goes rapidly into the milk, avoiding the 
accumulation of cells in the udder and the inflamma- 
tion which would otherwise follow. Previous to birth 
the same food would accumulate fat in the "land cells, 
swelling out and crowding the follicles as at B, in 
figure 18, because at this time the cells, though form- 
ing rapidly, are not shed. 

CHANGES 11^ THE QUALITY OF MILK. 

Colustrum is the result, in part, of inflammation in 
the udder, and may occur at any time during the milk- 
ing season, but is less likely to occur in the later than 
in the earlier stages of giving milk. When after 



146 American Dairying, 

parturition the inflammation has died away and the 
globules float singly and freely in the milk, it may 
then be said to have assumed its normal condition; 
but the quality of milk does not remain stationary, 
it is constantly varying from the time a cow comes in 
till the milk ceases to flow. At first, or so long as the 
quantity continues to increase, as it usually does for a 
few weeks after coming in, the per cent, of water 
increases, and that of cream and caseine diminishes, 
though the aggregate products are, by reason of the 
increased quantity, constantly enlarging. When the 
flow begins to diminish, the quality begins to improve, 
and it continues to grow richer till near the close of 
the milking season, when it again begins to depreciate, 
when the cow dries up before coming in again. The 
globules vary in size, diminishing as the distance from 
the time of calving increases, or rather as tlie amount 
of secretion diminishes, for if by an abundance of rich 
food the flow can be kept up, the globules may retain 
their size. 

The quality of milk varies with the quality and sup- 
ply of food ; if it is very succulent the water increases 
in the milk, but the increase of water cannot go 
beyond a certain limit, 90.5 water and 9.5 solids is the 
extreme limit I have met with by succulence and 
moisture in the food. On the other hand, by the use 
of food rich in the elements of milk and other circum - 
stances favorable, the extreme limit in the opposite 
direction has been 81.5 water and 18.5 solids. The 
former occurred in June, with a feed of grass and 
brewer's grains, the latter in the fall with after feed 
and meal. 

The aggregate results of cheese and butter factories 
demonstrate this rule on a large scale. When cows 



Milk. 



147 



come in in the spring, the product, whether butter or 
cheese, from 1,000 pounds of milk, varies during the 
season, as indicated by the following tables which are 
the result of different factories in different years : 

Two factories, reported in 1868, by Asahel Burnham, 
of Sinclearville, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 



:868. 



May 

June 

July 

August. . . 
September 
October. . . 



MILK. 



227,276 
481,648 
529,406 
398.285 
232,840 
100,132 



CHEESE. 



24,058 
49,919 
50444 
39.903 
26,762 
12,481 



NO. LBS. MILK 
FOR 
I OF CHEESE. 



9-44 
965 
10.49 
9.98 
8.70 
8.02 



1868. 



May 

June 

July 

August. . . 
September 
October. . , 



311,101 
616.791 
633,082 
472. 6j9 
323.603 
126,895 



32,551 
63.867 
60,712 
47,769 
37,333 
16,116 



NO. LBS, MILK 

FOR 
I OF CHEESE . 

9-55 

9.66 

10.42 

9.S9 

8.72 

7 86 



Cold Spring Factory, Whitewater, Wis., in 1870, 
reported by R. Wheeler. 



1870. 



April 

May 

June 

July 

August. . . 
September 
October. . . 
November. 



NO. LUS. 

MILK 

RECEIVED. 



8,811 

53,417 
75,010 

79,251 
70,788 
59,113 
41,237 
4,297 



NO. LBS. 

CHEESE 

MADE. 

850 

5.650, 

7.740 

7,960 

7.164 

6,127 

5,032 

588 



NO. LBS. MILK 
TO I LB. 
CHEESE. 



10.36 

9-45 

9.69 

9-95 

9.88 

9 64 
8.29 
7-30 



i4-S 



American Dairy iiii 



Brook's Creamery, Little Valley, Cattaraiip^us Co., 
N. Y. for 187 1, reported in the Live Stock Journal : 



1871. 



May. . . 
June, . . 
July... 
August. 



LBS. 
MILK. 



106,431 
298,263 
261.652 
168,948 



LBS. OF 
PRODUCT. 



11,124 

32399 
27,567 

17.584 



LBL. OF MILK 
FOR I OF 
PRO'^rC. 



9 567 
9. 206 
9.960 
9.609 



The Sulphur Spring Factory, Lovvville, Lewis Co., 
N. Y., as reported by C. L. Sheldon, for 1871, shows 
the following in the different months : 



[871. 



LBS. 
MILK. 



May , I 245*790 

June 390.796 

July 328,994 

August 227,396 

September 1 175-590 

October 132,141 



LBS. 
CHKESE. 



25,466 
39-784 

3J,935 
22,408 

19,954 
15,466 



LBS. MIKFOR 

I LB. CURED 

CHEESE. 



9.651 

9.822 

10.301 

10.147 

9-215 

8.543 



The factory of J. D. Ives, in Norway, N. Y., as 
reported by B. B. Moon, maker, for 1872 



1872. 



March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

Oct. to Nov. 9,. .! 
Nov. 10 to Dec. 14 



POUNDS 
OF 

MILK 



32.479 
123,611 
306,737 
502,910 
477,246 
396,862 

340,339 
305,026 

52,017 



POUNDS LBS. MILK 



OF 
CHEESE, 



2,668 
11,288 
31,493 
52,256 
48,126 
41,620 
37.890 
36.184 

6,404 



TO I LB. 

CHEESE. 

"~ii^73^ 

10.95 

' 9-42 

9-63 

9.91 

9 53 
8.98 
8.52 
8.12 



Skim milk. 

One mess skimmed. 

Whole milk. 

do 

do 

do 

do 
One mess skimmed, 
do do 



The variations of milk through the season are dif- 
ferent, according to the condition and feed of the 
cows. The milk of cows having insufficient food or 



Milk, 7^p 

of poor quality, not only give less milk, but what 
they do give is poorer in quality than the milk of 
cows well fed. The difference in quality caused by 
difference in feed, is much wider than dairymen are 
apt to suspect, and it often amounts to great injustice 
in tlie division of the proceeds of factories. 

In testing the milk of the different patrons of a 
factory by curding equal weights of their milk, and 
drying and weighing the curd, I have found the milk 
from one dairy to make 27 per cent, more curd than 
the same quantity of milk from another dairy delivered 
the same day, both being sound and pure. 

Ten to fifteen "per cent, in the value of milk for 
cheese making is a very common difference in the lat- 
ter part of the season, a difference due wholly to 
quality and supply of feed. The wide variations 
which occur from this cause should be more carefully 
studied by dairymen, and some more exact mode of 
apportioning the proceeds of factories be devised. 
The least injury done to the patrons by way of water- 
ing milk or skimming, or saving out strippings, will 
receive the most prompt attention and punishment, 
whenever detected, and a most watchful care is always 
on the alert to guard against unjust loss in any of 
these ways; but one patron may bring milk which 
will make fifteen per cent, less cheese than that of 
another, and yet thp^ divide equally and without com- 
plaint or suspicion of anything wrong. If the present 
inequality in the value of milk, especially for cheese- 
making were fully understood, it would not long be 
tolerated. The remedy is easy as will be shown in 
another place. 

Other circumstances than those of feed affect the 
quality of milk ; pregnancy is one of tliesc circum- 



1^0 American Dairying. 

stances. Of two cows giving millc alike at the start 
and continuing alike in respect to food and other con- 
ditions, except that one becomes pregnant and the 
other not, the one becoming with calf will soon begin 
to fail in the quality of her milk as compared with the 
farrow cow, and the further advanced in the period of 
gestation, the wider will be the difference in their milk. 
The milk of spayed cows is least affected by distance 
from the time of coming in. But whatever may be 
the situation of the cow, her milk will fail after a time. 
In a few exceptional cases, cows continue to give milk 
continually for a series of years, whether breeding or 
not. 

The milk producing function is brought into activity 
from an extraordinary amount of blood driven into 
the udder by an enlargement of the arteries leading to 
it, the enlargement being occasioned by a sympathetic 
influence from the active state of the reproductive 
organs. The increased size of the arteries being due 
to certain conditions, it is reasonable to expect that 
when the conditions have ceased to exist, the arteries 
would gradually fall back to their former size and 
activity, or nearly so, and this they do unless means 
are used to prolong their expansion and activity. As 
time advances, the stimulus being removed, the 
arteries by degrees diminish in size, and the supply of 
blood to the udder becomes less and less, till finally, it 
falls back to its normal standard, and the flow of milk 
keeps pace with this influx of blood, and the cow 
dries of her milk when the extra influx ceases. 

But the contraction of the arteries leading to the 
udder is in a measure under the control of the dairy- 
man ; he can retard or hasten it at wilL By causing 
the milk to be frequently removed from the udder he 



Milk, i^i 

creates, as it were, a vacuum into which the pressure of 
blood in the arteries drives forward the newly forming 
milk to fill. The reaction of pressure in the milk 
tubes upon the arteries which supply the blood from 
which to elaborate milk to fill them when exhausted, 
is both direct and large. So directly are the milk 
tubes and arteries connected, that by injecting one- 
quarter of an udder with water and subjecting it to 
strong hydrostatic pressure, I have been able to drive 
water through the milk tubes into the arteries so 
rapidly as to make it drip in a stream from the main 
artery supplying that quarter of the bag with blood. 
The direct effect of relieving or not relieving the milk 
tubes of their contents is to hasten or retard the pas- 
sage of blood toward the udder, keeping up their 
expansion by an active passage of blood in one case, 
and allowing of contraction in the other, by retarding 
the motion and diminishing the quantity of blood 
passing through them. 

Frequent, perfect, an'd regular milking is, therefore, 
a very efficient means of promoting the flow of milk 
and preventing change in its quality, for so long as a 
large flow can be maintained so long will it maintain 
its earlier characteristics. 

The secretion of milk has a tendency to diminish 
the volume of .bloo^^y drawing both upon its liquid 
and solid elements. To keep up a flow of milk, this 
draft must be supplied by furnishing enough to restore 
the steady waste. A failure to do this for any con- 
siderable time, is not only to decrease the yield of miik 
during the lack of food, but to invite a hurried con- 
traction of the blood vessels connected with the udder. 
These once reduced, there is no enlarging them again 
till the occasion of another birtli, and the supply of 



IS^ American Dairying. 

blood for making milk will be diminished to their 
reduced capacity, keeping down the flow permanently 
and shortening the time of its final cessation. 

Immense losses are sustained every year by dairymen 
from not comprehending this fact with sufficient clear- 
ness. A lack of feed in the midsummer drought where 
shrinking has already begun, hurries the shrinking 
along; lasting several weeks, the reduction becomes 
permanent, and must remain the rest of the season. 
No after feeding can restore the former activity of the 
glands, for the vessels supplying them with blood 
have become reduced. The great value of soiling, 
when grass fails, lies in keeping up and prolonging 
the action of the mammary glands. The dairyman 
who appreciates this will never let his milch cows lack 
for food or drink. 

An instance will illustrate the effect of a defective 
supply of food upon the milk-secreting vessels. In 
visiting the farm of the Hon. Harris Lewis, in the fall 
of 1873, I found his cows, after the severe drought of 
that summer, giving an average of twenty-two pounds 
of milk a day ; his heifers and farrow cows giving 
thirteen pounds a day, and his other cows twenty-four 
pounds each. Though the rains had come and the 
grass had revived, the average at the factories around 
him, where soiling had not been adopted, was thirteen 
pounds to the cow — just equal to Mr. L.'s heifers and 
farrow cows. The soiling more than paid for the cost 
m the dry season, and in the fall the large yield gave 
larger profits. But many dairymen complained that 
year that their cows did not pay for their keeping. 
Tlie reader may possibly see why. 

Variations in the quality of milk during tlie main 
part of the milking season are gradual, and for the 



Milk. 



153 



most part can only be noticed by comparing milk at 
periods remote from each otlier. When such com- 
parisons are made it will be found that the liquid part 
of the milk becomes less and less transparent, till 
toward the close of a long period of milk-giving, it 
becomes only translucent, and more or les^ of the 
caseine becomes solid and remains in minute particles 




/ 



Fig. 22 



suspended in the liquid like milk globules, but which 
upon standing, tend downward instead of upward. 
Opacity is also increased by a change in the condition 
of the fats and sugar. A part of the fats and probably 
the sugar, appear as glycerides, preventing the forma- 
tion of the butter. At this time it assumes a some- 
what gelatinous appearance, and something of an 
elastic consistency, so that it does not spread well 



75^ American Dairy mg. 

upon the glass, but draws itself up into bunches, as in 
figure 2 2, which is a View of milk near the time of 
drying up, and which would not make butter. The 
globules were scanty and very small. Though perfectly 
sweet when freshly drawn, it contained many particles 
of solid caseine, and was full of cloudy streaks, more 
or less dark, but not so dark as the figure indicates. 

The quality of" milk is affected by the frequency or 
remoteness of the times of milking. In trials of milk- 
ing once, twice, three times and five times a day, the 
most frequent milking gave the richest milk. Milk- 
ing every twelve hours, gave 12^ per cent, cream; 
milking once in three hours, gave 17^ per cent. 

The difference in the quality which may sometimes 
be observed between the morning's and evening's 
mess, is chiefly due to unequal distance of time 
between milking — the milk being richer at night 
when the days are short, and richer in the morning 
when the nights are short. When the times between 
milkings are equal, the yield and quality have proved 
to be similar. A difference sometimes occurs where 
cows are more comfortable and quiet during the night 
than during the day, or the reverse, as when suffering 
by cold in winter, or by flies in summer, when more 
and richer milk follows the greater comfort. 

There is a well known difference between the first 
and last part of a milking. This is generally but 
erroneously supposed to be due to the rising of the 
richer part of the milk to the top of the udder ; but no 
such circumstance could occur. All the'motion milk is 
susceptible of in the udder, is from the follicles forward 
"towards the teats. It can not possibly move from the 
teats backward toward the follicles or ramification of 
the lactiferous tubes. As has been already mentioned 



Milk. 755 

the ends of the milk tubes, where they connect with 
tlie little reservoirs,, are capped with diaphragms. 
These, except at milking time, are kept constantly 
closed, so that milk, as it comes from the extremities 
of the tubes, can only pass into the reservoirs with 
which they connect, by being pushed along by the milk 
that is forming behind it. The theory, therefore, that 
cream rises in the udder must be entirely fallacious. 
It is confuted also by the fact that woman's milk, in 
this respect, exhibits the same peculiarity as cow's 
milk, the last being the richest; but if the cream could 
rise in the gland the last ought to be the poorest. 

The difference between the first and last part of a 
milking must have some other origin than that of the 
separation of the cream by rising. 

In the udder which has been described, the gland 
cells in the upper part were larger than those in the 
lower part, indicating that the richest part of the milk 
was secreted there, and as this would naturally be the 
last to come out, it would seem to account, in part at 
least, for the greater richness of the last part of the 
milking ; but as no other udder has, that I am aware 
of, been examined with reference to this difference in 
its cells, it would be ui)(^afe to make a general infer- 
ence from this one case, though it is quite likely a 
general fact. 

Again, milk loses in quality by absorption while 
lying in the udder. That milk loses considerable 
from this cause, is evident from the fact, that when the 
flow is small it is all taken up in this way. Judging 
from the rough and jagged appearance of the globules 
which have lain long in the bag, the cream, especially, 
appears to suffer, but just to what extent it loses in 
this way, it is not easy to determine. 



ij6 American Dairying, 

Thirdly, it must be evident that the milk globules, 
being solids, would meet with more resistance and 
make less progress, in passing through fine tubes, 
whose sides collapse, or lie against each other, than 
the purely liquid part of the milk would, and hence 
that they would fall behind the liquid portions of the 
milk in their journeys toward the teats. The larger 
globules would meet with more resistance and come 
forward slower than the smaller ones, and hence come 
out last, making the last part of a mess the best as well 
as the ricliest. Dr. Sturtevant thinks this cause suffi- 
cient to account for all the diff'erence between the first 
and last part of the milking, and it certainly could ncjt 
fail to make a very wide difference. 

MILK AFFECTED BY BREED. 

It is rare, if not impossible, to find two cows in any 
herd whose milk will be exactly alike. Each animal 
has a constitution peculiar to itself, and the milk 
secretion is moulded, in each case, by that constitution. 
There can be no doubt that all the elements of milk 
are modified by the constitutional peculiarities of the 
case, but observations have yet been almost exclusively 
confined to the fats, and these even have been but lit- 
tle investigated.' Cows having similar constitutions 
give milk similar in quality, hence the milk of a breed 
has an approximate uniformity in its characteristics. 
Thus in the milk of Jersey and Devon cows generally, 
the fat is deeply colored and abundant, and the 
globules are very large and comparatively uniform in 
size. Figure 23 is an illustration of average Jersey 
milk, in which it will be seen that the globules are 
large with but few small ones. 



Milk, 



157 



Dr. Sturtevant was the first to call attention to the 
size of butter globules in different breeds, and to him 
I am indebted for figures 23, 24 and 25. 





■Fig. 23. 



Fig. 24. 



The flavor of Jersey butter is as characteristic as 
the appearance of its butter globules, and that of the 
Devons scarcely less so. In the milk of Ayrshire 
cows the globules are smaller, and in size unequal, a 
circumstance which is also quite common in the milk 
of native cows. For view of 
Ayrshire milk, see figure 24. 
For view of Holstein or 
Dutch milk, see figure 25, in 
which the globules are small 
and remarkably even in size, 
a striking peculiarity in the 
milk of the Dutch cow. The 
butter from this breed of 
cows has specific qualities; Fig. 25. 

it is neither high flav^ored nor high colored, but is of 
good quality and remarkable for its long keeping. 
The milk of this breed is well stored with fat, and is 
the richest in cheesy matter of any I have examined. 




1^8 American Dairying, 

The milk of Shorthorn cows somewhat resembles 
that of the Dutch, but the globules are larger and not 
so uniform in size or quality. The milk of individual 
cows and of particular strains, varies more in color 
and flavor 

The common stock of the country being derived 
from the different breeds which have from time to 
time been imported, by crossing and mixing in every 
conceivable way, develop in their milk the widest dif- 
ferences. There is no more uniformity in the quality 
of their milk than there is in the certainty with which 
individual characteristics are transmitted. 

In crossing, there is generally something of the form 
of the ancestors impressed on the offspring, but the 
characteristics of milk are less likely to follow. The 
milk of grades is therefore liable to great uncertainty, 
but it is more uniform than in the common stock. The 
effects of cross-breeding upon the quality of milk is 
sometimes very strange. I have seen the characteris- 
tics of the milk of two distinct thorough breeds so 
completely wiped out by crossing, that none of the 
peculiarities of either could be recognized. 

Every variation in the constitutions of cows varies 
the quality of their milk, making it a matter of prime 
importance for every dairy farmer to know all he pos- 
sibly can in regard to the laws of hereditary descent. 

MILKING. 

Milking is an art that requires to be learned as much 
as any trade. An expert will, at sight, detect an 
unskillful hand as readily as a farmer would dis- 
tinguish a want of acquaintance with the use of an 
axe or a scythe by seeing one attempt to use either of 



Milk. 75P 

these tools. Any one who determines to do so, can 
milk a cow, or use an axe, or a scythe, after a fashion, 
but to do either to the best advantage requires skill 
and experience. 

There are three distinct points to be regarded in 
milking. The first relates to the treatment of the 
cow, the second to cleanliness, and the third to the 
manner of extracting the milk. 

The manipulations in milking are best learned by 
practice. But there is philosophy in milking as well 
as in everything else, and a right and a wrong way of 
doing it. Because the right way is the best, it should 
be pointed out and followed. However plain and 
simple the art of milking a cow may be considered, 
the particular manner in which it is done may have 
much to do in modifying the profits of the dairy. 

A perusal of the description of the internal struc- 
ture of the udder, which will be found under the head 
of *^ Secretion of Milk," will explain the reason for 
certain conditions insisted on as essential. Otherwise, 
they may appear unimportant. 

The cow is naturally sluggish in her movements, 
and should not be hurried out of her natural gait. 
She should never be driven to the place of milking 
faster than a walk, and if she has far to go, the walk 
should be a slow one. Hurrying a coav when she is 
full and the weather warm, hastens the circulation of 
her blood, and heats both her blood and her milk. A 
very little heating of the blood perceptibly affects the 
milk. It increases its odor as well as raises its temper- 
ature, and modifies the butter or cheese made from it. 
On this account, driving cows with a dog is not to be 
recommended. We have seen the milk of a dairy 
numbering over thirty cows perceptibly affected by 



i6o American Dairying. 

the milk of a single cow driven in haste by a dog. 
She happened to be out at night and was accidentally 
left in a lot a hundred and fifty rods distant, when the 
herd was driven to a barn. Against our protest a dog 
was sent after her, and she came running to the barn, 
panting and frightened. In ten or fifteen minutes 
afterwards she gave about six quarts of milk, instead 
of ten, and it was hot and odoriferous. It was mixed 
with the rest of the milk, and, as was then customary, 
left through the night without any other cooling than 
it got by stirring. The extra odor of the feverish 
mess, acting as a ferment in the slowly cooling mass, 
made its impress upon the milk and curd of the next 
day. The milk of this cow was not natural till after 
several milkings. This was an extreme case. Less 
heating and worrying produces less effect, but never 
fails to do injury. 

Unless the number of cows is very small, and they 
are all ver}- quiet and peaceable, they had better be 
fastened in a milking barn or shaded stalls, rather 
than to be milked in an open yard. A large herd 
requires a yard so large as to give too much chance 
for dodging, running, hooking, and disturbing each 
other. It soon becomes trodden up and filthy, especially 
in moist weather. The practice of milking in open 
yards is rapidly going out of use, especially in large 
dairies. 

All harsh and violent treatment should be entirely 
avoided. Pain and fear, worrying and solicitude, are 
clearly detrimental to milk secretion, and never fail to 
make the cow hold back a part of her mess, if they 
occur at the time of milking. Kind and gentle treat- 
ment and quietude promote secretion, and are abso- 
solutely essential to drawing all the milk. 



Milk, i6i 

The milker should be careful to avoid every occa- 
sioii of discomfort to the cow. He should keep her 
teats sound and healthy by oiling them, if they are 
inclined to chap or crack ; he should also be careful 
to take hold so as not to pinch a part of them between 
the ends of his fingers and his hand, and he should 
see that his finger nails do not, like hawks' claws, do 
violence to the teats when pressing them. If any 
thing occurs to disturb tlie cow, or make her start or 
kick, treat her kindly, soothe her with caressing tones, 
and abate the disturbance as much as possible. Use 
no harsh language or violence. AH severity is sure 
to make a cow keep back all the milk she can. It not 
only fails to effect any improvement in the habits of 
the animal, but does positive injury, and makes matters 
worse by cultivating a fractious disposition in both 
cow and milker. The man who cannot govern his 
temper had bett«r let milking alone. 

If a cow kicks or is uneasy, it should not be inferred 
that she is malicious; it is very likely because she is 
hurt, or in some way made uncomfortable, and the 
cause of discomfort should be found and removed. 
\Vhen milking is comfortably and properly performed, 
the cow evidently enjoys the operation. She manifests 
her pleasure by her quiet and placid demeanor, and 
often by putting herself in a way to be milked, show- 
ing impatience if it is not done when s\\Q expects it. 
Kindness is by far the best agent for regulating the 
habits of the dairy. All unusual noises, or loud talk- 
ing and singing, should be avoided, because they excite 
the cow's attention and prevent relaxation of her 
udder. A strange dog passing through the yard or 
barn, has made many a cow hold back a pint of her 
best milk. Whistling or low singing may have no 



162 American Dairying. 

particular effect upon the cow, but they had better be 
omitted because they retard work. The singing milker 
is very sure to be behind hand. A slow, quarrelsome, 
or noisy milker will waste more than his wages and 
had better be kept away from the cows. 

Each milker should have a good stool of his own 
and when he sits down to milk, should sit snug up to 
the cow. Getting off at arm's length not only makes 
awkward and hard work for. the milker, but it exposes 
his every motion to the gaze of the cow, keeps her 
attention aroused, and gives her the* advantage of 
position if she should feel disposed to use it. 

Pail room enough to hold the whole mess should 
always be within reach of the milker, for, toward the 
last end of the milking, he cannot get up and sit down 
again, and get all the milk. When once begun a 
cow should not be left till she is finished. The pail 
being placed safely against catching dirt and spilling, 
let the work go on silently and as rapidly and quietly 
as possible, always using both hands. Milk the left 
hind teat with the right forward one and the right 
hind one with the left forward, changing teats often 
enough to relieve the pressure in the different parts of 
the udder about equally. Hold the left arm firmly 
toward the right leg of the cow, so as to be able 
to press it back and protect the pail with the 
least disturbance, if she should kick or step forward. 
If the milk is not soon extracted, the last part of the 
mess will be held back and permanently retained, 
when the milker probably thinks he has got it all, 
because it stops coming. A cow should, therefore, 
be milked quickly as well as quietly. It is natural for 
her to part with her milk in a few minutes. A calf 
\\#U draw a large mess of milk in three minutes, and a. 



Milk, i6j 

milker should come as near that time as possible. If 
the time of milking is much prolonged, she will 
become impatient and be sure not to " give down " 
perfectly. The quickest milker gets the most and the 
best milk, because he gets all the " strippings," which 
are the richest part. If anything occurs to attract the 
attention of the cow, near the close of the milking, 
some of the best milk will be held back till the next 
milking, when it will have become the poor, blue 
milk that is first drawn. A double loss ensues from 
every such occurrence, because leaving milk in a 
cow's bag always tends to diminish secretion. 

An hour is long enough to keep the herd confined, 
and milkers enough should be employed to complete 
the work in that time. This will require one hand to 
about ten cows, and that number is about as many as 
one can safely milk at a time without danger of injury 
to the hands of the milker or to the cows. The num- 
ber had better be less than more. Each milker should 
have certain cows to milk, and he should milk the 
same ones every time, and in the same order, so as to 
divide the time equally. Changing milkers attracts 
the attention of the cow and excites a little feeling of 
cautiousness, and she does not " give down " as per- 
fectly as when always milked by the same person. 

When a cow is nearly milked, the hand, as it grasps 
the teat, should reach up a little above the teat, so as 
to press the milk down through the valve or contrac- 
tion at the upper end of it, and every time the milk is 
pressed out of the teat, the milker should pull down 
on it, not with a jerk, but gently. When the milk is 
nearly exhausted from the udder, this pulling down 
on the teat pulls open the contractions at the junctions 
of the tubes, and lets the milk run down, and is neces- 



1 6^ Aniericari Dairying. 

sary to procure all the milk. The omission of this 
operation leaves a part of the milk in the tubes and 
is what has made every milking machine a failure. 

Regularity is of prime importance. The cows 
should come slowly and peaceably into the barn yard, 
but promptly at a certain hour. Five in the morning 
and live at night are good hours. Some milk at five 
in the morning and seven at night, but it is not well 
to divide the time so unequally. Observations have 
shown that milkings twelve hours apart will give 
thirty pounds of cheese to the cow in a season, more 
than when they are ten and fourteen hours apart, and 
a greater inequality will make more difference still. 

So much has been said and written in regard to 
cleanliness in milking, and it is so obvious that milk 
which is to be used for, or to be manufactured into 
human food, should be perfectly clean, that it seems 
almost superfluous to call attention to the subject. 
But in spite of all that has been said, filthy practices 
continue in use. One of these is milking in the rain 
or when the cow is so w^et that the water will run 
down her sides and drip into the milk pail. The hair 
and skin of the cow are covered with accumulations 
of perspiration, and to soak these up and rinse them 
down her sides into the milk, is as injurious as it is 
filthy. 

Another defect sometimes occurs from not thor- 
oughly cleansing the teats and udder before beginning 
to milk. A thorough brushing is always necessary to 
get off" the loose hairs and dirt, and if the teats have 
become otherwise filthy, they should be washed, but 
not milked till they are dry. A pail of water and a 
cloth should always be at hand for this purpose. 
When milking is done in a stable there is sometimes 



Milk, 165. 

a neglect to provide absorbents to soak up liquid 
excrement, and to prevent spattering. This is both a 
violation of cleanliness and wasteful. It can easily 
be guarded against by the use of straw, sawdust, dried 
muck, or something of the kind. Still another filtliy 
practice is that of drawing a little milk into the hand 
and wetting the teats with it before beginning to milk. 
Some milkers insist that this is not uncleanly; to 
which it is only necessary to reply that any person 
whose sense of neatness is so obtuse as not to discover, 
without argument, that the practice is a filthy one, is 
unfit either to milk or work about a dairy. 

Besides objections on the score of filth, the first milk 
drawn contains so little cream and so much saline 
matter, that it makes the surface of the teats, dry and 
harsh and inclines them to chap. If, after the milking 
is done, the pail is set aside and the teats wet with 
some of the very last strippings, that are little else 
than cream, there would be less objection to the 
practice. 

To mention in detail all the points that offend 
against cleanliness would be tedious. They must, for 
the most part, be left to the milker's sense of neat- 
ness, which certainly ought to be of an appreciative 
character. Uncleanly milking is quite too common. 
If all the milk of which butter and cheese are made 
could be taken to the dairy-house as undefiled as it 
exists in the udder, the price of those luxuries would 
be at once materially advanced. 

Drawing all the milk perfectly from the udder at 
every milking, not only prolongs the flow, but it keeps 
the bag in good condition. By leaving milk in the 
bag it becomes crowded and inflamed before the next 
milking, drying up the milk and injuring the bag. In 



1 66 American Dairying, 

some cases the milk comes down very slowly, and 
occasionally it is not all drawn out by reason of hard 
milking. This may be overcome. It is occasioned by 
a too small hole in the end of the teat, which can be 
easily enlarged. The following illustration and man- 
ner of doing it, copied from a recent number of the 
N. Y. Tribune^ will sufficiently explain how : 

Make a small cone-shaped plug of ivory, bone or metal, or 
even hard wood, well oiled, as large as you 
can well insert in the end of the teat. By 
making a head on the large end of the cone, 
and just above the head a little contraction 
(as shown in the figure), the plug when 
inserted in the end of the teat will remain 
and keep the opening stretched till it will 
become sufficiently enlarged to milk as 
easily as you desire. It may be removed at 
each milking, and when the milking is done 
it may be inserted again, to remain till the 
next milking, and so on till the orifice becomes permanently 
enlarged to the right size. No harm will be done to the teat. 

To cultivate a habit of giving down rapidly and 
fully, fast and careful milking are necessary. Slow 
milkers seldom get all the milk, and the bag gets out 
of order in one way or another. Difficult milking is 
occasionally produced by a contraction of the orifice 
in the diaphragm which stretches over the top of the 
teat. The little cord which runs round the edge of 
the hole, contracts and knots up, closing the hole and 
making a hard bunch just at the upper end of the teat. 
Cases of this kind are more numerous than formerly, 
owing, I have no doubt, to feeding more corn meal 
and heating food than formerly before parturition. 
But sometimes it is brought on by too much pulling 
down on the teats when milking, especially where the 




Milk. i6y 

milk is drawn by "stripping," as it is called, with the 
thumb and finger, /. c.^ the teat is held between the 
thumb and finger tight enough to keep the milk from 
flowing back, while they slide down the teat and crowd 
the milk out. This constant and severe pulling on 
the teat irritates the diaphragm and cord, and makes 
them pull up and occasion the bunch described, just 
above the teat. When this contraction has been car- 
ried so far as to make the bunch feel hard, there is no 
relaxation to it afterward. It has so proved in my 
experience. It can be remedied by cutting the cord 
and diaphragm to make the hole larger. It requires a 
considerable incision to prevent growing right up 
again. It does no harm to the udder to make the cut 
quite large. It is best done by inserting a flattened 
tube as large as can be crowded into the teat, and after 
pushing it up to the bunch, make the incision by pass- 
ing a blade through the tube, then turning at right 
angles and cutting again. It is best done when the 
bag is full of milk. 

SOURING AND OTHER CHANGES IN MILK. 

Milk, it is well known, is an unstable compound. 
It is constantly undergoing changes from the time it 
is formed in the lacteal glands until it is manufactured 
or consumed. The moment it is secreted by the milk 
glands, and passed into the tube of the udder, it is 
attacked by thousands of busy absorbents, that begin 
at once to suck up and carry away, into the general 
circulation, the nutrient properties it contains. Milk 
twelve hours in the udder is a very different thing 
from milk when first secreted. Exposed to the action 
of the absorbents that line the milk tubes, it steadily 



1 68 American Dairying. ' 

loses, as it passes alonsr, a portion of its fat, its albu- 
minoids, its sugar and water, and, probably, also a 
portion of its saline ingredients. 

When relieved from the action of absorbents within 
the udder and brought into contact with the air, other 
agencies begin at once to act upon it, inducing tlie 
changes which afterward occur. Unstable as milk 
appears to be, it does not perish from anything in the 
nature of its own elements, but is destroyed by influ 
ences foreign to its own necessary composition. 

If milk is drawn from the udder without being 
exposed to the air and sealed up tight, it neither sours 
nor taints, provided it is healthy and sound when it 
is drawn. But if exposed to the air it sours and decays. 

If a can of fruit or milk, which has been safely pre- 
served for an indefinite time, is opened so that its 
contents are exposed to the air, it will soon sour and 
spoil, showing that the agency which does the work 
of destruction is conveyed to the fruit or milk by the 
air. This observation, which must be familiar to 
every dairyman, demonstrates that there is nothing in 
the nature or composition of the milk or fruit itself 
which causes it to change or decay, but that the cause 
existed only in the atmosphere through which it is 
conveyed to the milk or fruit. 

It is what the air contains and not the air itself, that 
destroys the milk or fruit in this case, for if a long 
tube filled with cotton be connected with the contents 
of the can, so that the air which will be admitted to it 
shall be filtered of whatever foreign matter it may 
contain, the contents of the can remain sound indefi- 
nitely, the same as when perfectly sealed. 

Milk absorbs from the atmosphere the seeds of a 
fungus plant, which grow and multiply and fill it with 



Milk. i6(^ 

their presence, and produce the souring. The seeds 
of the fungus that are concerned in the process of 
souring are very small, and are always floating in the 
air unseen and unsuspected. When developed they 
are of considerable size, so that they are readily seen 
with a magnifier of moderate power. They are shown 
at the bottom of the annexed figure, as they appear 
under a microscope with a magnifying power of i,ooo' 
diameters. 

They have a distinct cylindrical form, and are 
known as arthrococcus, or jointed cells. Cold checks 
their growth, but never kills them. They are not 
injured at all by freezing 
and thawing, or wetting and 
drying. Nothing but heat 
kills them. One of these 
cells, adhering to the sides 
of a milk pan, or in a cre- 
vice, may be dried in the 
most thorough manner pos- 
sible, and lie there for a 
week, a month, or even a ^. ^ 

year, without injuring it in 

the least. The moment it is moistened with warm 
milk, it swells up and springs into active growth, and 
in a short time its progeny may be counted by the 
million. Premature souring of the milk is the result. 
They grow most efficiently at blood heat, and nothing 
short of boiling heat is sure to kill them. 

A few destructive agencies get into milk through 
the body of the cow. One of these is represented by 
the dots in the upper part of figure 26. They are called 
Micrococcus cells. They are exceedingly minute, and 
everywhere abundant. Their influence tends to pro- 




tyo American Dairying, 

duce decomposition. They are also active agents in 
digestion, and in the coagulation of milk, and in putre- 
faction. They do no particular injury to milk, unless 
kept too long, when they produce offensive putrefac- 
tion. They are killed with boiling heat. It is to kill 
these destructive agents, that we scald green fruit; 
and we seal it up air tight, while hot, to shut them 
away from it. They may be killed ia milk in the same 
manner, and if they are effectually shut out by sealing 
up air tight while hot, milk or sweet cream, as we 
have found by experience, will keep just as well as 
canned fruit, and for precisely the same reason. 

There is nothing, therefore, in the necessary com- 
position of milk which makes it sour or putrefy; that 
it is always matter foreign to itself which destroys 
it, must be evident from the fact that when all foreign 
agencies within it are killed by scalding, and those 
outside of it kept away by excluding the air from it, 
sweet milk will remain unchanged for time indefinite. 
Milk which has been thus kept sweet for a year or 
more, will sour in two days at 60 degrees, by simply 
letting common air come in contact with it. It is an 
opinion by no means uncommon among dairymen 
that milk spoils of its own accord, so to speak, and 
that it is of necessity short lived. But this, as we see, 
is an error, and the sooner it is discarded the better. 
The ready infection it takes from the air in which it 
may be placed, ought to be better appreciated. If the 
fact that the short lived tendency of milk was occa- 
sioned, not because its composition necessarily impels 
it to destruction, but simply because it affords such a 
fertile field for developing and multiplying the minute 
seeds of fungus plants which are floating in the atmos- 
phere, was more clearly impressed upon the minds of 



Milk. I J I 

all those who have the care of milk, they would be 
more cautious than they now seem to be, in regard to 
the quality of air which they allow to come in contact 
with it. It requires no long exposure to the air for 
milk to take an infection that will cause it to sour. 
A moment's contact is usually enough. The germs 
of acidity multiply in milk with such astonishing 
rapidity, that a very few are all that is necessary to set 
the work a going. 

The influence of the air upon milk is not confined 
to the absorption of the spores which produce acidity; 
spores of every other kind are taken in as well. Nor 
does the absorptive power of milk end with absorbing 
living germs ; it takes in odors as freely as infectious 
germs. It is a fact which cannot be too strongly im- 
pressed upon the mind of every one connected with 
the care of milk, or the manufacture of milk products, 
that milk takes in every odor as well as the seeds of 
every ferment that blows over its surface. 

This absorbent power is not peculiar to milk alone. 
It belongs in common to all liquids. Water, placed 
in a cellar containing decaying vegetation, soon tastes 
and smells of the decay, and becomes unwholesome to 
use. But milk, being full of oily matter and holding 
albuminoids and sugar in solution, offers to every 
species of ferment just what is most desirable for it to 
flourish in. Every odor that comes in contact with 
milk is grasped and taken in at once, and its grasp is 
never slackened. Once taken in, it is there perma- 
nently, and the seeds of every ferment that touches its 
surface find such a fertile soil to flourish in that they 
spring at once into vigorous growth, and multiply and 
quickly "leaven the whole lump." The London Milk 
Journal cites instances where milk that had stood a 



t^^ American Dairying, 

short time in the presence of persons sick with typhoid 
fever, or been handled by parties before fully recovered 
from the smallpox, spread these diseases as effectually 
as if the persons themselves had been present. Scar- 
latina, measles and other contagious diseases have 
been spread in the same way. The peculiar smell of a 
cellar is indelibly impressed upon all the butter made 
from the milk standing in it. - A few puffs from a pipe 
or a cigar will scent all the milk in the room, and a 
smoking lamp will soon do the same. A pail of milk 
standing ten minutes where it will take the scent of a 
strong smelling stable, or any other offensive odor, 
will imbibe a taint that will never leave it. A maker 
of gilt-edged butter objects to cooling warm milk in 
the room where his milk stands for the cream to rise, 
because he says the odor escaping from the new milk, 
while cooling, is taken in by the other milk, and 
retained to the injury of his butter. This may seem 
like descending to little things, but it must be remem- 
bered that it is the sum of such little things that 
determines whether the products ot the dairy are to 
be sold at cost or below, or as a high priced luxury. 
If milk is to be converted into an article of the latter 
class, it must be handled and kept in clean and sweet 
vessels, and must stand in pure fresh air, such as 
would be desirable and healthy for people to breathe. 
Many other changes than those enumerated, occur 
in the milk room. The souring process once begun, 
continues till the sugar is converted into acid. The 
whey begins to separate from the thickened milk and 
the vinous fermentation sets in, slowly forming alco- 
hol, which takes up the volatile oils, and the strong 
acid ferment preys upon the solid fats, to the detriment 
of the quality and quantity of the butter. If still per- 



Milk, 173 

mitted to stand, the alcohol is converted into vinegar, 
aggravating results. While these changes are going 
on, the micrococcus cells will be slowly decomposing the 
cheesy matter, and carrying it on to putrefaction. 

These are some of the changes which are ever pro- 
gressing under the eye of the dairyman, and he who 
can most successfully direct and control them is the 
one who reaps the best ilsward. 

SPONTANEOUS COAGULATION. 

It has happened every now and then, in cheese fac- 
tory practice, that milk has been found to coagulate 
without the presence of any sensible acidity. Well 
authenticated cases of this kind have occasionally 
appeared in the agricultural papers^ and they have also 
been mentioned by dairymen at their meetings for 
public discussion. Their occurrence has been the 
occasion of surprise, and a good deal of wonder as to 
the cause of such a phenomenon, but no light has been 
shed upon the subject further than to find that there is 
always something the matter with the milk so affected. 

During all the hot weather of the season of 1S73, 
cases of this kind were of frequent occurrence in the 
milk with which the city of Rochester was supplied. 
The city was furnished by numerous small dealers who 
brought milk in their wagons once a day, their farms 
being from three to five miles distant. Some of the 
dealers reported no trouble from any unusual thicken- 
ing, while others said their milk sometimes curdled 
before they could get it to their customers, without 
being sour to the taste, and when it was delivered 
apparently sound, customers now and then complained 
that it loppered while sweet. From our own observa- 



1 74- American Dairying. 

tions of the keeping qualities of milk brought to the 
city, and from inquiries made of those who used it, it 
appeared that the peculiarity complained of was much 
more extensive than even the milkmen themselves 
supposed ; and that milk in which souring did not 
appear much sooner than is usual, often became thick 
upon an unusually slight development of acidity. 
One milkman stated his experience substantially as 
follows: He lived three miles from the city, and 
delivered milk only in the morning; his night's milk 
was strained into his carrying cans, which were placed 
in tubs of water where they stood all night with the 
covers partly open; the morning's milk was also 
cooled in the same way, but of course was not kept 
long enough to cool so thoroughly as the night's 
milk. He stated further, that he furnished a con- 
siderable number of families with pure morning's 
milk, for the use of infant children. The milk for 
each family was put in a separate can, suited to its 
amount, the cans for this purpose varying from one 
quart to six. These little cans were also set in tubs 
of cold water and cooled with the rest of the morn- 
ing's milk. 

The premature thickening always arose with the 
morning's milk, and oftener with the small cans than 
with the larger ones. With the night's milk, there 
was no trouble. It kept longer than the morning's 
milk, and was therefore dealt out last. His experience 
was similar to that of many others, and represented a 
considerable share of the milk brought to the west 
half of the city. 

Cheese makers in different factories have reported to 
me several cases in which milk standing in a large 
body in the manufacturing vats through the night 



Milk, 175 

has been found in the morning to be more or less 
coagulated and yet perfectly sweet. The curds thus 
formed have been warmed and cut, treated in the 
usual way and made into cheese which did not appear, 
when cured, materially different from cheese made 
with the use of rennet. There was no indication of 
acidity in the working of the curd or in the curing of 
the cheese more than is usual in the curd of sweet 
milk coagulated with rennet. I have met with a good 
many cases of this kind of spontaneous coagulation in 
which the tendency to acidity was not greater than is 
usual. In one case, milk as soon as drawn was put 
into a closely covered can and after being carried in a 
wagon for half an hour curdled in a few minutes upon 
being warmed to ninety degrees. This sample was 
not only perfectly neutral when it coagulated, but the 
curd and whey remained neutral six hours before they 
would respond to an acid test. 

The causes which brought about these seemingly 
strange results are neither new nor very materially 
different from those which produce ordinary coagu- 
lation. 

Milk is composed of water, caseine or cheesy mat- 
ter, albumen, sugar and certain mineral matters, all 
joined in a chemical union. Butter is an outsider, so 
far as this chemical partnership is concerned, for it is 
only mechanically mixed, or suspended in this liquid 
combination. The caseine is what becomes curd 
when it separates from the other members of the 
partnership. It is attached to the rest of its compan- 
ions by a very feeble affinity and becomes detached 
from them easily. A slight change in the mineral 
matter by the action of an acid, or in the sugar by the 
action of yeast, is sufficient to break off" its connection 



1^6 American Dairying. 

with the compound, when it becomes a solid instead 
of a liquid, and appears as we see curd in cheese- 
makino^ and in loppered milk. A shock of electricity 
may, by changing the elective affinity of some one of 
the elements, produce the same result. 

When milk is left standing exposed to the air, two 
varieties of yeast are active in producing the coagu- 
lum. There is in milk, as has been before explained, 
when it comes from the cow, a very small quantity of 
yeast, similar to that in rennet. This multiplies, and 
would, in time, become sufficient to curdle the milk 
alone. Besides this, there is the lactic yeast, that is 
concerned in the souring, which falls into it abun- 
dantly from the air, that would also produce congula- 
tion, if it acted alone. But the two act together and 
produce a coagulum sooner than either would acting 
by itself The lactic yeast produces the greater effect, 
but that the curding of the milk is helped along and 
hastened by the aid of the former, may be known by 
scalding the new milk, when the yeast, born with the 
milk, will be killed, and the coagulation will come 
from the souring alone, but about one-third more time 
will be required to eff"ect it. It is a fact which must 
have been noticed by almost every one who has the 
care of milk, that it does not always coagulate with 
the same degree of sourness, which may be accounted 
for by the varying quantity of yeast similar to that in 
rennet. The influence of the ferment in new milk 
varies, according to the treatment of the milk and the 
health of the cow from which it is taken. 

If new milk is covered up, so as to prevent the odor 
from escaping, it will very much facilitate the action 
of the rennet yeast. Agitation also helps it along. 
The health of the cow varies the quantity, to start 



Milk. lyy 

with. Any circumstance which produces a feverish 
condition in the animal will increase the coagulating 
agent in her milk in proportion to the amount of fever. 
The feverishness produced by eating too much or 
improper food ; by drinking stagnant water ; by wor- 
rying with dogs, or by exposure to a hot sun, will so 
increase the rennet yeast as to make the milk coagulate 
upon the first approach of acidity or even before, when 
without this extraordinary amount, a deeper souring 
would need to be developed before curding would 
result. These are general principles that relate to 
the action of milk everywhere, and are worthy tlie 
careful attention of all concerned in any way in the 
production or handling of milk. They cover the cause 
of the premature thickening of the Rochester milk, 
and that in the factories. Several samples of this spon- 
taneously coagulating milk have been analyzed and 
in every instance, a lack of butter and sugar and an 
excess of albuminoids was found, indicating a feverish 
condition in the cow. One of these analyses is given 
on a preceding page, in which the albuminoids were 
six and a half per cent., while the sugar was only two 
and tiie butter two and a quarter per cent. Such pro- 
portions only occur in a disturbed state of health. 
The cause of the tendency to premature coagulation 
in this sample was traced to stagnant v/ater. Some of 
the dairymen around Rochester, w^ho have not running 
streams on their farms, have supplied the defect witli 
what are termed "pond-holes." A large cavity is 
excavated in some low place, which fills with water in 
the spring and remains through the season. The sides 
are made sloping, so that the cows can easily get down 
to the water to drink. In hot days, they love to wade 
into the water and stand there to protect their legs 



ij8 - American Dairying. 

from the flies. Of course the water gets full of filth, 
and becomes green and putrid, and full of miasmatic 
matter that would make any person sick to drink it. 
How any one, with common sense, could for a moment 
suppose that such water would make good milk and 
promote healthfulness in his cows, is not easy to 
imagine. It may be better than no water in a case of 
extreme emergency, but it is certainly unfit for the 
use of anything but the lowest forms of animal exist- 
ence. The milk which curdled so soon came from 
cows which drank from such a pond in August. No 
wonder that they were not in good health and that 
their milk was abnormal. Yet this milk was daily dis- 
tributed through the city to feed children when the 
records of mortality were swelled with cases of cholera 
morbus, cholera infantum, typhoid and chill fever, and 
such other diseases as that kind of water is liable to 
produce 

MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF MILK. 

The examination of milk with a magnifying glass, 
serves a purpose in dairy practice which is of no 
small account. It enables us to distinguish between 
healthy and diseased milk. 

In all the examples of diseased milk, and illustra- 
tions of diseased milk met with, the pellicles of the 
milk globules have appeared viscid and adhesive, as 
seen in the following illustrations where the circles 
appear in clusters, leaving spaces between them nearly 
vacant. 

Figure 27 represents a sample of slightly tainted 
milk, made so by a little fever in the cow. 

One of the very first effects of disease is to begin to 
decompose and soften the coats of the globules, rend- 



Milk. 



n9 




Fig' 27. 



ering them adherent. This effect appears long before 

the cow exhibits any signs 

of disease — at least any that 

would be likely to attract 

the notice of the ordinary 

observer. In more advanced 

stages, the globules become 

broken down and destroyed, 

and assume a variety of new 

appearances. 

Figure 28 represents a 
sample of milk tainted by 

drinking impure water. It 
contained the seeds of algae 
and other organic germs, 
which made the cows fever- 
ish and the milk globules 
very adhesive. The seeds of 
the algae passed through the 
body of the cow i^^to the 
milk, and after a day or two 
they grew, and the stems of 
the plants, well developed as 
in the illustration, were seen in the milk. A large 
germ of another kind lays bare on the adhering 
globules, and at the left of the figure may be seen 
some smaller ones of still another variety, and also a 
few blood cells, having a dark centre. This illustra- 
tion was obtained from drawings made by Professor 
Law, of Cornell University, who examined the tainted 
milk. 

Figure 29 exhibits an aggravated case of diseased 
milk. It was drawn from a sick cow in a distillery 
stable in Williamsburg, at the time of the notorious 




Fig. 2S. 



i8o 



A inerican Dairying, 




swill milk exposition in the city of New York, in 

1858 or 1859. The view is 
taken from a microscopic 
representation made by Dr. 
S. R. Percy, of New York 
city, as it appears in the 
annual report of the N. Y. 
State Medical Society, for 
i860. 

The cow had very high 

fever and inflammation of 

^'^- ^' the bowels. The milk was 

scanty and blue. Under the microscope, it showed the 

milk globules cohering, and also little bunches of 

them broken down and decaying. 

From the first two samples of tainted milk, butter 
could be made, though it would churn with a good 
deal of difficulty. From the last, butter could not be 
derived, though it should be churned a week, but they 
would 4l11 work into cheese, though a less amount 
would be produced than if the milk were sound. 

Other and more detrimental agencies, in the form 
of organic germs, some- 
times get into milk through 
the food and drink, or the 
breath of the cows. Figure 
30 shows some that got into 
the milk through bad water, 
which the cows drank. They 
consist of two species of mi- 
croscopic algae, often called 
^'frog spittle." They were 
not seen in the milk when 
first drawn; but, after standing a while, they grew 




Milk. 



i8i 



from the seeds contained in the milk, and developed 
into visible plants. They affected the health of the 
cows, producing slight fever, and the milk had all the 
peculiarities of what factory men call "tainted milk." 
Figure 31 is a view of milk which contains a plant 
resembling what is known commonly as frog-spittle — 
a green, stringy-looking plant which grows in stag- 
nant or very slowly moving water. In the lot where 




Fig- 3I' 



the cows fed was a sluggish stream with stagnant 
eddies extending out some distance from the brook, 
and these eddies were green with the frog spittle 
(algae). From drinking this stagnant water the 
microscopic species here exhibited was taken into 
the stomach of the cow and passed through the blood 
vessels into the milk, where it developed and grew in 
the manner seeuo It could have got into the milk in 



l82 



A nicrican Dairying. 



no other way. It is but a diminutive thing, its whole 
length being only -^ of an inch, and its diameter less 
than that of a spider's web, but it is enough to show 
the excretory power of the milk gland which cast the 
seed out of the blood. 

Figure 32 shows what came 
in'by feeding distillers' slops- 
It is another sample of the 
same kind of milk illustrated 
by figure 29. The growth 
was made in 24 hours, the 
milk being closely corked. 
The organisms were in im- 
mense numbers. Every drop 
of milk contained from 5,000 
to 10,000 of the full grown 
plants. 




Fie. 32. 



EFFECT OF TREATMENT. 
The influence of mental and physical treatment 
received by cows has a decided influence in changing 
the character of the secretion, and upon its keeping 
quality afterward. The bovine is not unlike the human 
mother in this respect. Starvation or brutal treatment, 
worrying or fright, changes the composition of milk 
so much as to sicken the nursing offspring, and in 
extreme cases it amounts to an absolute poison.- 
These effects are of common occurrence with nursing 
mothers, and occasionally brutal severity and fright 
affect a cow so much as to sicken the calf which sucks 
her milk. In all such cases, milk spoils very rapidly, 
and its composition'is changed. But little fat is formed 
in it, and sugar and caseine almost entirely disappear. 
Their place is supplied with an imperfect secretion 



Milk. 183 

of albumen. In the earlier stages of the milking 
season these influences do not appear to be so potent 
as at a greater distance from the time of coming in, 
but the effect is always visible. Milk is not only the 
most healthy and perfect, but keeps best when the cow 
is well fed and healthy and quiet. 

THE ODOR OF NEW MILK— ANIMAL ODOR. 

All who have been accustomed to handle or use milk 
when first drawn from the cow, are aware that it has 
an odor peculiar to it, at that stage, but which soon 
passes away if the milk is thinly spread out and 
exposed to the air. There are many people who can- 
not use new milk at all till after this peculiar odor 
has passed off. It is not only disagreeable to some, 
but produces nausea and other disturbing effects upon 
health. To others it is not particularly unpleasant, 
and a few like it. Children often relish milk when 
new and warm, and it seldom does them any harm on 
account of its being new, if the milk has come from 
a healthy animal. But milk is different before and 
after the smell, peculiar to it when first drawn, has 
passed off, and its effect as a food is also varied. 

The milk of all mammalia, so far as I am aware, 
exhibits similar phenomena. The milk of each gives 
off an odor' while new and warm that does not belong 
to it afterward, and in each case the odor resembles 
the mingled smell of the breath and insensible per- 
spiration of the animal from which it has been derived. 
Thus the new milk of the cow smells so much like her 
insensible perspiration that it is often spoken of as a 
" cowy odor." The milk of the sheep, goat, horse 
and human, sustain similar rela,tions. 



i8jf. American Dairying. 

Previous to the adoption of butter and, cheese fac- 
tories, the apparently evanescent odor of new milk 
had attracted but little attention. Its existence had 
simply been recognized, and so far as dairymen were 
concerned, little else was thought of it. But when it 
became necessary, or at least convenient, to transport 
milk to factories in covered vessels, and to move it 
while fresh and warm, this odor was soon found to be 
a disturbing element. When milk was put into closely 
covered vessels, which, on account of convenience in 
handling, could not be filled full, and carried a mile 
or more to the factory, the space in the upper part of 
the vessels not occupied with milk would invariably 
be filled with a smell of new milk, which seemed to 
have accumulated till it became so strong as to be 
offensive. Upon uncovering the can, (the vessel in 
which it was carried,) the offensive accumulation of 
odor was at once dispersed, and the farmer supposed 
that to be the end of it ; but results in the factory 
proved differently. It soon became evident that the 
odor had not departed from it, but had actually 
increased. When received into the factory, and held 
in large vats containing several hundred gallons in a 
body, though exposed to the open air and cooled down 
to 60 or 70 degrees, it still hung to the milk, and its 
presence affected the cheese, making it porous and 
spongy, and giving it a strong flavor. The further 
fact soon became apparent that it varied in intensity 
with the varying circumstances which affected the 
cows. In hot and sultry weather, when the heat of the 
sun was oppressive and water scarce and poor, and 
especially when the mercury stood close to 90 in the 
shade, the odor became intense and offensive, and the 
effect upon the cheese ^¥as greatly aggravated. When- 



Milk. i8s 

ever cheese was made from milk emitting much of this 
strong smell the curds became soft and spongy, and 
instead of shrinking and settling to the bottom of the 
vat, as usual, they were puffed and swelled, and so 
much distended with gas as to float on the whey like 
cork on water. 

By cooling and salting, the curds were worked 
down to a firmer consistency, but when pressed into 
cheese the difficulty reappeared. The cheeses would 
huff up like loaves of bread and be, for a time, about 
as porous. As soon as they began to cure they gave 
off offensive gases and soon went to decay. The whey 
and the curd while it lay in the vat, emitted foul odors 
which increased in intensity as the work went on. 
This state of things became quite general, and at 
times was almost co-extensive with the existence of 
cheese factories. As the weather became cooler, and 
water purer and fresher, the milk gradually became 
better, and the offensive odor died away. This pecu- 
liarity in the state of milk comes and goes with every 
season, and often many times in the same season. 
Milk of this character is now managed with so much 
more skill than formerly, that the disastrous effects 
upon the cheese are to a large extent avoided. But 
the fact is now generally recognized by dairymen con- 
nected with factories, and especially by manufacturers, 
that milk fresh from the cow does not make as good 
cheese as it does after it has stood till the animal odor 
has escaped, and that, however much the method of 
working milk, that has-from any cause become affected 
with odor, has been improved, the cheese made from 
it is never equal in flavor or keeping to that made 
from milk not so affected. 
. The influence of animal odor upon butter is as 



1 86 American Dahying. 

deleterious as upon cheese. If the odor of new milk 
is carried into cream and thence worked into butter, 
as it often is by cooling new milk too low and too 
suddenly, the butter has a modified flavor in conse- 
quence. The fine aromatic and clear and delicious 
taste of the olein and its essential oils, which are 
developed in butter from milk free from such odor, 
are obscured and modified so much as not to be recog- 
nized, and a strong and indistinct flavor, as if some- 
thing foreign and impure had been mingled with the 
butter, takes the place of the naturally agreeable taste. 

In like manner, butter made from milk which has 
become affected with odor from a feverish condition 
of the cows, or from carrying closely covered, takes 
on an unnatural, strong and unpleasant taste and 
a greasy appearance, unless the odor is removed before 
the cream is raised. 

The appearance of these new phenomena in the 
handling and working of milk, brought into use a 
new set of terms. As the odor, which had formerly 
been supposed to belong only to new milk while 
warm, began to increase from the influence of weather, 
food, treatment, and the new modes of manipulating 
milk, and to become intense, it smelled so much like 
the perspiration and breath of cows as to show an 
unmistakable animal origin, and hence it has become 
generally known as "animal odor," and this phrase is 
now in general use among dairymen in the United 
States, to indicate this peculiar odor of milk in all its 
stages. When it becomes very intense, it often savors 
so much of the odors of putrefactive fermentation as 
to lead to the supposition that actual decomposition of 
the milk has begun ; and hence milk in this advanced 
stage is said to be tainted, though its condition is in 



Milk. 187 

fact quite different from that of other animal matter 
when we speak of it as tainted. But the apparent 
analogy of the two cases has brought the phrase "tainted 
milk'"' into extensive and familiar use; and owing 
to the fact that curds from this kind of milk usually 
rise to the surface of the whey, the phrases "tainted 
milk," and " floating curds," have become correlative 
terms, and the latter has had about as wide an appli- 
cation as the former, which is now by common con- 
sent used to signify milk from which any strong odor 
is emitted. The three phrases " animal odor," " tainted 
milk " and " floating curds," have thus each become 
technical terms and assumed a permanent place in the 
dairy literature of the country. 

To the outsider it may seem like a waste of words 
to occupy time in talking about the smell of a thing, 
but to the American dairyman, the phrase "animal 
odor," is one of dreadful significance. It reminds 
him of a bitter enemy, one which, however much he 
may affect to despise, he dare not ignore. It refers 
him back to losses incurred, which may be estimated 
by millions, from a perishable inclination and other 
defects it has given to his cheese. He recognizes in it 
the most active agent in the destruction of his butter, 
and oftener than anything else, the cause of that cry 
which has become to him disheartening and dreadful, 
from the frequency with which it is applied to his 
goods, of " off flavor." However trifling the odor 
emanating from milk may seem, it really strikes back 
to a cause of defect in both butter and cheese, than 
which, none is more potent. If, from ignorance of its 
power, it has not been appreciated in times past, the 
introduction of the factory system has revealed its 
might and made a terrible display of its destructive 



1 88 American Dairying. 

energy. Dp,irymen now are aware that there is some- 
thing in it that needs looking after. It is now begin- 
ning to attract the attention it deserves. At the fire- 
side of dairymen, at social knots, at the conventions 
so often held in the interest of their vocation, " animal 
odor" and '^tainted milk," are never-ending themes 
of discussion. 

Just what animal odor is, or what it is derived from, 
has not been well understood either by practical men 
or scientists, though many have been the speculations 
in regard to it, and multifarious have been the devices 
to dispose of it and counteract its effects. 

By some it has been supposed to be the proper and 
legitimate smell of warm milk. To this it may be 
objected that the same cow's milk even, does not at all 
times have the same odor when warm, while, under 
some circumstances, it disappears entirely while warm, 
and under others, it increases as the temperature falls. 
Others have supposed it to be the result of the pecu- 
liar warmth of the animal body, and great pains have 
been taken to get the "animal heat/' as it is called, 
out of the milk. This supposition has found a great 
many adherents, and many cling to it still. A wider 
mistake could hardly have been made, nor a more base- 
less theory be imagined. 

In the first place, there is no difference between 
animal heat and any other. All heat, whether gener- 
ated in the animal body or out of it, is the same. 
There is but one kind of heat, from whatever source 
derived. This fact is too well known to need demon- 
stration. 

In the second place, heat and odor are entirely dis- 
tinct from each other. The former is only a condition 
of a thing, while the latter is a thing of itself— a sub- 



Milk, i8g 

stance it must be, to be appreciated. How idle then 
to suppose that warmth generated in the body of a 
cow should give rise to any particular kind of odor. 
Yet the number of dairymen who still persist in using 
"animal heat '^ and "animal odor" as synonymous 
terms, or in considering the former as the cause of the 
latter, is legion. 

A simple experiment will illustrate how untenable 
both of the preceding suppositions are. Upon an 
occasion, which accidentally occurred, when my cows 
were giving milk strong with animal odor, I made a 
small filter containing pulverized charcoal and passed 
tlie milk through it as soon as drawn. Upon emerging 
from the filter at a temperature of 90 degrees, it was 
perfectly delicious, both in taste and smell. Though 
retaining nearly all its animal heat, it had lost all its 
animal odor. By continuing the use of the filter, the 
coal soon became saturated with the odor, giving 
unmistakable evidences of its presence, and showing 
that animal odor, or the odor peculiar to new milk, 
does not belong to the milk itself, since it can be sep- 
arated from it, leaving the milk free from any such 
smell — the milk in the meantime being unchanged. 

In attempting to account for the strong odor which 
occurs in hot sultry weather, it has been assumed by 
some, that a putrefactive change begins in the milk 
the moment it is discharged from the udder, and in 
some cases, even before it leaves that organ. If this 
supposition were true, ammonia or nitrogen, in some 
form, should be given off. But tests have shown that 
no nitrogen escapes in any form, either combined or 
free, from what is known as tainted milk. The dis- 
charges have been carbonic acid gas mingled with the 
peculiar odor. 



I go American Dairying. 

That no change of the character supposed occurs in 
milk under the circumstances described, is evident 
from the fact that milk freed from odor by heating a 
little above blood heat, even after it has been pretty 
badly tainted, throws up a very nice sweet cream and 
makes excellent butter, and the further fact that such 
milk so heated afterwards makes delicious and pure 
flavored cheese that wnll keep and hold its flavor as long 
as milk that has not been tainted. These facts amount 
to a demonstration, inasmuch as it would be altogether 
impossible to make a nice flavored and long keeping 
cheese out of milk in a state of actual putrefaction. 
Hence it becomes necessary to look for the basis of 
animal odor in some other direction. 

Having observed' that this peculiar odor escapes 
more rajjidly as the temperature rises, and more slowly 
as it falls, till ceasing to escape at all, it remains per- 
manently in the milk, the writer at first regarded it as 
a gas emanating from the waste matter of the body, 
especially, as under different circumstances its odor 
corresponded to that of excretory matter. At low 
temperatures, it appeared to assume^ liquid form, for 
though it ceased to giv^e off" any odor, its presence 
was made manifest by a flavor corresponding to the 
odor. 

Prof. Caldwell, of Cornell University, suggested 
that its behavior was that of a very volatile oil, rather 
than of a gas. 

To test this suggestion, a sample of milk in which 
odor had purposely been allowed to accumulate was 
distilled and a small quantity of a clear limpid oil, 
Avith a slightly yellow tinge, was obtained. At 35 
degrees (F.) it was as fluid as water and emitted no 
odor, but upon warming a little, it quickly assumed 



Milk. igt 

an aeriform condition and disappeared with an intense 
smell of new milk — the genuine animal odor, 

A few experiments demonstrating that the odor in 
question is an extremely volatile oil, the next query 
was, how does the oil get into the milk ? If the odor 
disappeared upon cooling and exposing to the air, and 
never reappeared, the inference would be that it was 
a secretion of the milk glands, the same as the fatty 
matters in butter. The investigator might at least be 
satisfied with referring it to such an origin. But the 
formation of the oil does not stop with the discharge 
of the milk from the udder. It continues to form out 
of the udder the same as in it, if the milk is kept 
warm. As the temperature of the milk falls, it forms 
more and more slowly till it ceases entirely. It only 
fails to become intense because being open to the air 
it escapes. Cover milk closely and keep it warm, and 
the odor will soon become as strong and even stronger 
than in new milk. Nor is its formation confined to 
the udder or the milk. The same odor appears to be 
all the time escaping in all the excretions of the body — 
the breath, the liquid and solid faeces, and profusely 
in the perspiration. The odors in these different cases 
vary a little from that in new milk as well as from 
each other, and the odor from milk in different cir- 
cumstances differs in the same way. The milk of a 
cow smells differently when she is quiet from what it 
does when she is worried; differently when she is 
feverish from what it does when she is not ; and odor 
formed in the udder is different from that formed out 
of the udder when the milk is closely covered ; yet its 
general characteristics are so analagous as to be 
unmistakably the same thing. The samples of oil 
obtained by distilling milk under these different cir- 



1^2 American Dairying. 

cumstances cannot, while liquid, be distinguished 
from each other, and they all alike fly off in vapor 
upon being warmed, but in taking on an ethereal con- 
dition each gives off exactly the same odor as the milk 
it was derived from. 

Again, the milk of a single cow, if feverish, would 
soon bring a 600 gallon vat full of good milk into the 
same condition as itself, if it is kept warm. The milk 
of a half dozen or more feverish cows would, to be 
sure, do it sooner than one. But the fact that a small 
mess of milk tainted with any modification of animal 
odor will infect a large mass, is a fact well known and 
is a point to be noted. Another significant fact is, that 
after milk has been boiled, no odor will accumulate in 
it when closely covered, showing that the cause of the 
odor is destroyed by heat. 

Since the oil on which animal odor depends multi- 
plies independently of the nnimal body, being formed 
in milk as well after as before it leaves the udder; 
since its formation increases and diminishes with the 
rise and fall of the temperature of milk, till the ulti- 
mate cause is quieted with cold or removtid with heat; 
and since a small mess of affected milk spreads its pecu- 
liar characteristics through a large mass with great 
rapidity, obeying all the laws of a ferment, it is deemed 
a safe conclusion to infer that the peculiar odor of 
new milk, and what is generally known among dairy- 
men as animal odor and taint in milk, are produced by 
a volatile oil formed in the milk by the action of a 
peculiar yeast, which is present in a greater or less 
degree according to the circumstances under which it 
is produced. As in other cases of fermentation, the 
yeast or ferment, which is the active cause of change 
and new products, has been found to consist of living 



Milk. igj 

organic germs ; so in this case, it may fairly be inferred, 
from the close analogy in action and results, that the 
growth and multiplication of organic germs are the 
cause from which the peculiar odors of milk are 
derived. 

The circumstances which contribute to an increase 
of odor in milk, before it is drawn, are very numerous. 
They are in general such as disturb the health or heat 
the blood of the cow, and these disturbances may con- 
sist of mental as well as physical treatment. The fol- 
lowing may be specified as among the most common 
causes : Oppressive heat of the sun — especially in sul- 
try weather, and when scanty feed occasions too much 
exposure of the cows to fill themselves. Taint in milk 
is very apt to increase and diminish with the rise and 
fall of mercury in the thermometer — a circumstance 
which shows that in this latitude cows need protec- 
tion from the hot sun in summer as well as from the 
cold winds in winter. Stagnant water — this is a very 
prominent and efficient cause in producing an increase 
of odor. Scarcity of water — when cows lack a full 
supply of water, or when it is not convenient of access, 
the odor of milk is very soon affected. So also with 
dogging cows, driving fast, or too long journeys, or in 
any way worrying them. A slow pace and short jour- 
neys for cows in hot weather are required fc;r good milk. 
Worrying or in any way heating the blood, violent 
usage, pain, uneasiness, fright, solicitude, sore teats, 
garget, cow-pox, being in heat, any disease, and 
especially such as produces feverishness ; breathing bad 
air, as tlie odor from carrion or the air of foul and close 
stables, or of a filthy barn yard ; gorging, as when 
cows break into forbidden enclosures or are fed with 
more food of any kind tlian they can digest ; feeding 



/p-/ American Dairying. 

improper food, or food in a state of decay or highly 
fermented, as the refuse of the dairy in a stale condi- 
tion ; the slops of the distillery and brewery ; decayed 
grass which has lain on the ground during the winter ; 
coarse and sour grass, grown on swampy places or in 
low moist ground; rank green clover in the early 
stages of its growth ; eating strong scented or medi- 
cinal food ; going too long without milking ; suddenly 
checking perspiration by exposure to cold or wet. 

The principal causes which produce bad odors in 
milk, before it is taken from the cow, and which after- 
^Yards become the cause of taint, are oppressive heat 
and stagnant water. 

Of the causes which increase the odor in milk after 
it is drawn, the principal one is keeping the warm 
milk closely covered, so that the odor which was in it 
when it was drawn, and that which afterward forms, 
cannot escape. ■ 

Another very efficient cause is defective cleansing 
of dairy utensils. Another, cooling too rapidly, or 
not soon. enough, or not low enough; exposing the 
cans containing milk to the hot sun while in transit; 
exposing milk to foul odors at the farm yard and at 
the factory; keeping milk in large masses without 
sufficient stirring, and various other similar defects 
in the care of milk, contribute to augment the develop- 
ment of odor. Though it is no easy task to keep clear 
of all these causes of injury, it is necessary to do so 
in order to have perfect milk. 

Again, when dairymen appreciate that the cause of 
the odoriferous oil in milk is a ferment, it will be as 
easily wiped out as the oil itself. The laws which 
control the propagation and destruction of ferments 
are well known. They originate from seeds as distinct 



Milk. 7p5 

as the seeds of grain, and are like them in some 
respects, but more than equal them in tenacity of life. 
The seeds of the cereals retain their vitality under 
great exposure and severe treatment while they remain 
dry seeds, but the moment they germinate, they are 
easily perilled ; their strong hold on life is gone. A 
little exposure to heat or cold, wet or drought, or to 
a little violence, and they become extinct at once. So 
with the seeds of ferments, while they remain spores 
they retain their vitality under almost any vicissitude, 
but the moment they become developed into growing 
fungi, their destruction, like that of sprouted grain, is 
very easy. Though they require oxygen in the com- 
position of their food, they cannot endure it on their 
surfaces. Though they require warmth to develop, 
they can bear but a certain amount of it. The fer- 
ments which flourish so luxuriantly in milk can only 
do so when protected from the attack, of oxygen by 
a liquid envelope. The mushrooms that spring up 
under cover of the dark and dampness of night to 
wilt before the light and dryer atmosphere of day, are 
more tenacious of life than the germs which constitute 
the ferments in milk ; they perish instanter when 
exposed to a little too much heat, or to the corroding 
influence of the oxygen in the air. 

One of the most eff'ectual barriers now in the Avay 
of further improvement in factory cheese making, lies 
in carrying milk warm and closely confined to tlic 
factory. The objectionable odor is developed in t!ic 
journey to the factory. Milk, in which a strong taint is 
liable to develop, appears, when first drawn, scarcely 
diff"erent from sound milk. It would be difficult to dis - 
tinguish them, yet when it arrives at the factory the 
affected milk is so full of odor as to become offensive. 



Ig6 A inerican Dairying. 

To avoid this increase of odor on its way to the factory, 
is the most important point, next to avoiding the origi- 
nal cause in the care of the cow. Having discovered 
that the odor is simply a very volatile oil that is all the 
time forming and escaping at common temperatures, 
three ways of counteracting it suggest themselves. 
One is to cool so low as to prevent the action of the 
ferment by which it is formed. This will stop its 
increase, but it will retard the escape of what is 
already in the milk, and if cooled low enough will 
condense it into a liquid, and give an animal flavor 
instead of an animal odor. A second way is to give 
it a free chance for escaping. It will then pass away 
.without help as it is formed, leaving the milk in its 
original purity. A third way is to hurry its exit by 
heating, and if occasion requires raising the heat so 
high as t6 destroy the ferment and remove the cause 
entirely. 

In discussing the subject of the so-called animal 
odor in milk, it has been deemed appropriate to speak 
thus fully — first, because the investigations in regard 
to its nature and origin will be new to many read- 
ers ; second, because the multiplicity of views in 
regard to it among dairymen seems to demand a 
definite solution and explanation so clear and full that 
it could be understood and appreciated by all ; and 
thirdly, because the important part it plays in modi- 
fying the quality of butter and cheese, require that it 
should, if possible, be well enough known to be con- 
trolled and counteracted. 

The discovery of this new oil in milk, and its mode 
of development in the bodies of animals, has a sig- 
nificance wider than its application to tlie dairy inter- 
est. Its identification wnth odors in the perspiration 



Milk, igy 

and breath ; its formation outside of the body of the 
cow as well as inside, show that its origin is indepen- 
dent of the vital functions of the animal, and its mode 
of development being in such strict accordance with 
the action of ferments, as to leave no doubt that it is 
the product of the development of organic germs. All 
this points to the conclusion that extensive changes 
take place in the bodies of the bovine race under the 
influence of a ferment, which has yet proved too minute 
for discovery; for this odor, and consequently the pro- 
duction of the oil it is derived from, is not confined to 
the body of the cow\ It exists in the bodies of the 
entire bovine species. In the horse there is the same 
accordance between the odors of its new milk and the 
perspiration and breath of the species, establishing an 
identity in the cause of their origin in the equine race 
v,'ith that in the bovine. In all the mammals we are 
acquainted with, similar phenomena maybe discovered, 
which, by analogy, show further that the peculiar odor 
in the perspiration of animals generally is due to an 
oil, the same as in the cow and other known mammals, 
and that this oil has the same volatility and a similar 
origin. The formation of an oil on such an extensive 
scale in the bodies of animals, which assumes an ethe- 
real form below blood heat, indicates a specific pur- 
pose in nature, and naturally raises a query as to 
what that purpose is — whether, indeed, this attenuated 
condition is not a necessary one for the most easy 
assimilation or utilization of the elements of food in 
the bodies of animals, and, while small portions of 
it are escaping in perspiration, breath and faeces, 
whether much larger portions arc not being employed 
in the economy of animal life. Considering the fact 
that the digestion of milk with rennet, and, by 



ig8 American Dairy i7ig, 

analogy, other digestion is carried on by the agency 
of organic germs, the questions are raised whether 
other changes carried on in the animal body, which 
are supposed to be the result of the vital functions of 
the animal, may not be due to a similar agency ; 
whether the influence of the vital force in animal 
bodies is not in fact confined to much narrower limits 
than we have been accustomed to ascribe to it ; and 
whether it is not itself controlled to a large extent by 
infinitesimal lives acting within the animal organism. 



BUTTER MAKING. 



In the dietary of all the civilized nations of the 
globe, butter holds a high place. With the cultivated 
and refined it is everywhere recognized as one of the 
crowning luxuries of a perfect meal. The tables of 
wealth and refinement are never complete without it. 
Its absence would create a void that nothing would 
fill. But it is the perfect article that takes this strong 
hold of the appetites of men. The imperfect article 
is despised. Nothing could be more indicative of the 
esteem in which the extremes are held than the terms 
used to designate them—" gilt edged" and '* grease." 
Commercially, it assumes large proportions. It is an 
article of extensive traffic and interests everybody, 



Butter Making, igg 

for e^ery family either makes or buys it. An article 
in such general use and general esteem ought to be so 
well understood as to insure, in all respects, perfection 
in its manufacture, so that nothing but a perfect article 
would ever be sent from any farmer's home. There 
is the greater necessity for this, since its commercial 
value depends upon the extent to which the palate is 
pleased. But experience does not run in this direction. 
Perfection is the exception instead of the rule, and it 
is not very strange that it is so, for the art of butter- 
making is an intricate operation. Its success depends 
upon a succession of little acts, each one of which is 
liable, when not performed aright, to alter the whole 
character of the production. The correct performance 
of all these little acts involves an acquaintance with 
the properties of milk which the present extent of 
practical and scientific knowledge renders it difficult 
to acquire. We will notice in detail some of these 
little acts. 

VESSELS FOR SETTING MILK. 

There are three varieties of vessels extensively used 
for containing milk while the cream is rising, and each 
has its advocates. 

The small tin pan, holding eight or ten quarts, 
which, until a few years since, held sway almost with- 
out rival, is still largely in use. Its form is too familiar 
to need any description. It has answered the purpose 
well, and some of the finest butter known, is still made 
from milk set in these pans. They have some advant- 
ages over any other vessel in use ; they cool the milk 
readily without the use of water; they are light and 
easy to handle and cleanse ; their small size adapts 
them to situations where no other kind would suit; 



200 



American Da 



trying. 



they are conveniently stored away when not irf use, 
and are cheap and durable. An improvement in tlie 
manufacture of these pans has enhanced their value. 
They are now made without seams by pressing sheet- 
iron into the proper form and then tinning it heavily 
afterwards. Thus made, they are more durable and 
very easy to clean, there being no crevices for sour 
milk to lodge in. They are better adapted to small 
dairies than large ones, as in a dairy of much size, 
the large number required, necessitates an immense 
amount of handling to cleanse and put in place, and 
to fill and empty. 

To obviate this large amount of 
labor, and as many believe, to im- 
prove the quality of butter, deep pails 
are used where pools of cool water can 
be had to set them in, to prevent the 
milk from remaining warm too long. 
They are made of sheets of tin 24x20 
inches, and are usually 19 inches high, 
and nearly eight inches in diameter. 
The merits of this mode of setting 
milk consist in cooling large masses 
of milk quickly and in requiring less 
room and less labor than the small 
pans. 

Another form of vessel for setting 
milk, which has gained considerable 
reputation, is the large square or 
Fig. 33. rectangular pan. There are several 

varieties of this pan in use, some of which vary but 
little from each other. The main points as well as 
the points of difference, will be understood by a brief 
description. 




Butter Making, 201 

The one first introduced contains a large rectangular 
pan within another, with a space of half an inch or so 
between them to admit water. They are made of very 
heavy tin, and not more than six or eight inches deep, 
and of a size suited to the' amount of milk they are 
desired to hold. The outer pan may rest upon a frame, 
or a table, as preferred, and the inner one hangs upon 
its edges, is movable and can be taken off at pleasure, 
to wash Or repair, if there is occasion. A small stream 
of water is led by a pipe into one corner of the lower 
pan, and after filling the space between the two, is 
made to pass out at the opposite corner. 

Another pan is made with two bottoms, one-half 
inch apart, with water-tight divisions extending ;/(?^r/)/ 
across the pan lengthwise and at alternate ends butting 
against the end of the pan, thus forming a channel 
that compels the water, which is let into the space 
between the bottoms at one corner, to flow back and 
forth across the pan lengthwise, till it is let out at the 
other corner on the same end where it enters. The 
discharge orifice is raised above the bottom, so as to 
keep the space always full, and the inlet is higher than 
the discharge to give the water head. The ingress 
and egress of water is regulated by faucets, and a 
faucet is also placed at one end of the pan to draw off 
all tlie water between the bottoms when desired. The 
pan is one solid structure, there being no inside pan to 
lift out as in the one first described. It is designed to 
rest on a table made with a top of matched boards to 
keep the warm air of the room from the bottom of the 
pan. 

Another style of pan has straight sides and ends and 
a rounded bottom, making it easy to clean ; another 
is arranged so as to set one above the other to save 



202 



A inericaii Dairying. 



room in the dairy; another has its sides made of iron 
with the inside lined with porcelain, a very favorable 
feature for cleansing the vessel and keeping milk 
sweet ; still another has compartments in the interior 
adapting them to holding variable quantities of milk, 
see figure 34. All the varieties of this sort of pan 
would make a very long list. They have one feature 
common to them all, viz.: A pan within a pan and 




F^S-34' 



water between them. Recently, for creamery use, 
pans involving this principle are made of very large 
size, in which the outer envelope is made of wood, the 
whole resembling a large vat for manufacturing cheese. 
They are designed to use large quantities of water for 
rapidly cooling large messes of milk. In some fac- 
tories a third pan is employed which is suspended 
within the one containing the milk. Its edges rest 
upon the top of the milk pan and its bottom goes 



Butter Makino, 20 



'<b 



down nearly to the milk. This third pan is filled vvitli 
cold running water, to aid in cooling the milk by cool- 
ing the air above it. By elevating these large pans so 
that milk can be spouted from them to the manu- 
facturing vats, they are exceedingly convenient for 
creamery use, and have proved very successful in turn- 
ing out a fine quality of butter, but in the creameries 
where I have been able to get the statistics the yield 
has not been satisfactory, but I can see no good reason 
why, if properly arranged, the quantity should not 
also prove satisfactory. 

In attempting to set forth the effects of the different 
methods of setting milk, we have a multitude of 
difficulties to encounter. Successful butter making: 
depends upon proper attention to a great many details 
which are liable to be varied singly or in combina- 
tion. It thus often becomes almost impossible for the 
operator to determine with precision how much this 
or that variation has affected his butter, and even 
whether the effect has been for good or for evil. The 
vessel for setting milk is but one of these items which 
may be greatly varied by attendant circumstances. 
The form and size of vessel to be preferred should 
have reference to accompanying conditions. 

CREAM. 

Butter is the aggregated fat of milk which is first 
known as cream. Pure cream consists of the globules 
in milk which rise to the surface on standing. These 
globules, as has already been observed, are composed 
principally of three varieties of fatty matter — stearine, 
palmatine and oleine, enclosed in a membraneous pel- 
licle. Butter is formed from them by removing the 
pellicle and collecting the fat into a mass. Occasion- 



20/j. American Dairying. 

all}-, particles of fat are mingled with them which 
have no pellicle. This is especially true with respect 
to the lighter fats which are derived from the essential 
oils in the food of the cow. The naked fat appears in 
very minute particles. Water also enters more or less 
into the composition of the milk globules, apparently 
taking the place of a part of the fat. I have recently, 
as before observed, found globules in which the fat 
was entirely displaced with water. As the composi- 
tion of cream is A^ariable, there is a corresponding 
variation in the specific gravity of different samples. 
It varies, acccording to different authorities, from 
1,024.4 by Berzelius, down to 983 by Sturtevant. The 
actual difference in the gravity of different samples of 
cream I apprehend is less than is generally estimated, 
the samples being varied by the amount of milk taken 
with the cream. Taken from grass fed milk in June, 
the cream bein^ very carefully separated from the 
milk, the pure cream had a gravity of 985, water being 
1,000; this is the lowest determination I have made. 
I have never met with a sample of sweet cream which 
I can recall as beino: heavier than water. Sour cream 
will often sink in water because of the coagulated 
caseine which adheres to it, but when sweet cream is 
placed in distilled water the caseine sinks and the 
cream rises. Hence, I infer that though the great 
majority of authorities agree in putting the specific 
gravity of cream greater than that of water ; the 
higher gravity is due to an imperfect separating of 
cream from the milk. That this was so in the 
extraordinary gravity ascribed to it by Berzelius, is 
evident from the fact that the cream so estimated pro- 
duced only 4)^ per cent, of butter, while, the residue 
gave 3^ per cent, of caseine and 92 percent, of whey. 



Butter Making. 20 j 

Such a result could not be obtained without having 
mixed with the cream a large amount of milk. Pure 
cream ought to yield 20 per cent, of butter. I have 
obtained from it 25 per cent., and it sometimes yields 
more. 

It must not be understood from this remark that 
cream is all supposed to be alike in respect to gravity 
or value, for neither is true. The cream from the milk 
of different cows varies both in gravity and value, and 
even in the milk of the same they are varied consider- 
ably by the effect of feed. A cow in April, while in 
the barn, and fed on hay and wheat bran, gave milk in 
which the cream differed so little from the rest of the 
milk, that no distinct line between milk and cream 
could be observed after standing twenty-four hours in 
a graduated glass ten inches deep. The cream appeared 
to diminish from the top to the bottom of the glass by 
a gradation nearly uniform. About one-fourth of the 
way from the top down was a confused change in the 
shading, showing the cream to be thicker above than 
below, but the diminution of opacity down ward showed 
considerable cream below. A milk so very rich as to 
show 25 per cent of cream, and still cream to spare 
below that, seemed a remarkable instance of richness 
and to be worthy of analysis, but I was much disap- 
pointed to find in a total of dry solids of 13 per cent, 
less than 4 per cent. fat. The milk of this cow was 
watched and the diminution of the per cent, of cream 
with a change of feed noted. In June, when fully 
established on a diet of grass, the cream had dwindled 
tQ 12 per cent., and its line of separation became dis- 
tinct. An analysis showed a slight falling off in 
solids and a trifling increase in fat. The changes 
noted in the milk of this cow are interesting as indi' 



2o6 American Dairying. 

eating the possible change upon the gravity of cream 
by the influence zi feed, and the unreliability of the 
volume of cream as an absolute guide to value, and 
may help to throw some light upon the variable 
specific gravities ascribed to cream. The April cream 
was evidently largely composed of milk, because its 
gravity being so near that of the milk itself, it did not 
crowd itself to the surface to displace the milk that 
was mingled with it. In June, the globules were better 
filled and the fat in them Avas lighter, and they pushed 
themselves (so to speak) with more force to the surface, 
displacing the milk and forming a compact coat of 
cream with a deep color. The former must have 
weighed heavily ; the latter light. 

Cream from the milk of different cows and from 
diiferent breeds of cows is liable to similar variations. 
The bulk of cream, however, affords a strong probable 
evidence of the butter product in the milk, but not an 
absolute one. The opacity of the cream is often as 
good an index of value as bulk. 

RAISING CREAM. 

From time immemorial, cream has been separated 
from the other parts of milk for the purpose of mak- 
ing butter, yet the best method of effecting the separ- 
ation is far from being settled. 

Opposite practices, in many particulars, are advo- 
cated and adopted. A beginner in butter making is 
always confused with the contradictory notions of old 
practitioners ; and these differences of opinion and 
practice are likely to continue till the operators 
assemble and compare practices and products, and 
settle differences by discussion. 



Butter Making. 20^ 

In the present unsettled state of opinion and modes 
of operating, an appeal to general principles becomes 
necessary. The statement of a few leading facts will 
help us very muclKin deciding what is, and what is 
not, proper. 

The first prominent fact in the separation of cream 
from milk is, :hat it rises by reason of its having a less 
specific gravity than the milk with which it is mingled. 

The average specific gravity of milk is about 1,030. 
The difference between this and 985 brings the cream 
to the surface; it is so little that the cream makes 
haste very slowly. The globules never all come to the 
surface. Other circumstances being the same, the 
largest ones rise soonest, as they are specifically 
lighter and in rising meet with less resistance in pro- 
portion to bulk than the smaller ones. Many of these 
never make a start toward the surface at all. Neither 
do the larger ones always rise, some of them settle 
instead of rising. In placing in a glass tube sixteen 
inches long, milk on which the cream appeared to rise 
perfectly, leaving a blue skim-milk, and letting it stand 
twenty-four hours, and then drawing milk from the 
bottom of the tube, globules of good size (Wtrrr of an 
inch in diameter) appeared mingled with the smaller 
ones. As globules of unequal size remained at the 
bottom, it is evident they did so because of a difference 
in their composition which made them specifically 
heavier. Those remaining at the bottom of a deep 
vessel appear less opaque than those which rise to the 
surface, those rising first, being the most opaque. 
Analyses of skim-milk show that about one-eighth of 
the fatty matter in milk never gets to the surface. 

The smaller the globules, the slower they rise; and 
some of them dwindle down to such minuteness that 



2o8 American Dairying, 

they would not rise through three inches in a week, 
if the milk could be kept sweet that length of time- 
Cream will continue to rise till the milk gets thick, be 
that time short or long. The beat part rises first. If 
milk is skimmed every twelve hours, and the cream of 
each period churned separately, the product of the 
first period will be the highest flavored and the highest 
colored, and the color, quantity and flavor of each 
successive skimming will diminish to the last, but the 
keeping qualities will grow better. The fourth and 
fifth skimmings will be quite pale and insipid. Where 
a high flavored article is desired, it is not advisable to 
continue the process of creaming too long. What will 
rise in forty-eight hours, at sixty degrees, on milk 
four inches deep, is all that it is generally profitable 
to separate. What comes up after that is so white and 
tasteless as to do more injury, by depressing the flavor 
and color, than it can do good by increasing quantity. 

The second essential point is the fact that fats 
expand and contract more with heat and cold than 
water, and more than the other elements of milk. 
The difference in specific gravity between milk and 
cream is varied by the circumstance of temperature. 
It is greatest when hot, and least when cold, and this 
fact materially aff"ects the rising of the cream. 

As fat, of which cream is chiefly composed, sv/ells 
more with heat and shrinks more with cold than water, 
of which milk is chiefly composed, it is evident that, 
if other circumstances are alike, creanl will rise better 
in a high temperature than in a low one, since the fat 
in cream, by swelling more with heat, will be rela- 
tively lighter when both milk and cream are warm 
than when both are cold — the temperature in both 
cases neither rising nor falling, but standing without 



Butter Making. 2og 

change. Most people seem to have the opinion that 
milk must be cooled to make the cream rise fast, and 
that the colder they can get it, the faster the cream 
will rise. The fact is exactly the reverse when the 
temperature is stationary. The colder the milk, the 
slower the cream rises, because there is less difference 
between the specific gravity of the cream and milk, 
and because the milk is more dense and offers more 
obstruction to the motion of the cream globules. It 
does not rise as fast at 60 as at 160 degrees. In butter 
making the waste of butyraceous matter is confined 
almost wholly to the minutest particles of cream. 
These rise with great difficulty and very, slowly. 
Those who make butter from whey often heat the 
whey to 170 degrees, when the difference in specific 
gravity between the fat in the cream and the water in 
the whey becomes so great, that the cream all rises to 
the top in a short time. By cooling to 60 degrees, five 
or six times as much time is required to effect the same 
result. 

In noting the difference of expansion in water and 
fat, by varying the temperature, the fat in rising from 
60 to 130 degrees, swelled, as near as I could determine 
by graduated tubes, twice as much as water by the same 
increase of temperature. Water expands unequally 
by an equal increase of heat according as the increase 
is made at a high temperature or a low one. Water 
rising from 40 to 50 degrees swells only one-tenth as 
much as when rising from 80 to 90 degrees, and in 
cooling, of course the same law is followed in the 
shrinkage. In falling from a high temperature to a 
low one, the water in the milk shrinking little and the 
fat mucj^, the specific gravities come nearer alike, and 
hence the fat rises more slowly at low temperatures 



210 American Dairying. 

than at high ones, when the temperature is unvarying. 
Water is a better conductor of heat than fat ; hence, 
when the temperature of milk varies either up or 
down, the water in the milk feels the effect of heat or 
cold a little sooner than the fat in the cream does; 
therefore, the cream is always a little behind the water 
in swelling with heat or shrinking with cold — thus 
diminishing the difference between the specific gravity 
of the milk and cream when the temperature is rising, 
and increasing it when the temperature is falling. 
The difference between the specific gravities of milk 
and cream, when both have the same temperature^ is 
but little. It is barely enough to give a sluggish 
motion to the cream. Where the difference in gravities 
is so very small, a slight increase or decrease is sensi- 
tively felt, and the careful observer will have no diffi- 
culty in noting the retarded ascent of cream in a 
rising temperature, or its hurried ascent in a falling 
one. The fact of a hurried rising of cream in a fall- 
ing temperature of milk has great significance in but- 
ter dairying; but, though always open for recognition 
in every butter making establishment, whether cor- 
porate or private, it has failed of being recognized 
both by dairymen and dairy writers — perhaps because 
they have had their minds intently bent on some ideal 
temperature or depth, as the sine qua non. 

A fourth consideration is depth ; other circum- 
stances being equal it must be evident that it will take 
cream less time to rise through a thin structure of 
milk than a thick one — less time to rise through three 
inches than twelve. But depth involves temperature 
and makes the question of depth a complicated one. 
It cennot beconsistantly considered alone, for there is 
no particular depth at which, under all circumstances, 



Butter Making. 211 

cream rises better than at every other temperature; 
and of temperature it may be also said, that there is no 
particular temperature at which under all circum- 
stances cream rises better than at every other tem- 
perature. Depth and temperature are somewhat cor- 
relative ; in practice they affect each other, and they 
should be considered in^connection. Further experi- 
ments are necessary to note all the facts which result 
from the combined influence of these two circum- 
stances, but a little explanation may help to show how 
these general statements are connected with deep and 
shallow setting. If two vessels of milk at 80° and of 
the same depth and quality, are set in a room which 
has an even temperature of 50° — one being cooled to 
50° before setting and the other not— the vessel which 
is cooled will not throw up cream so rapidly nor so 
perfectly as the one which is not cooled before setting, 
because the former will receive no benefit from an 
increased difference between the specific gravities of 
the milk and cream by reason of a falling temperature. 
If, after the cooled milk has stood at 50° until the 
cream ceases to rise, it is warmed and then set again 
in a room at 50°, or if, without warming, it is set in a 
colder room, more cream will rise because of the fall- 
ing temperature that will in either case follow. The 
same results would be obtained, but in a feebler degree, 
if the milk which was not cooled before setting were 
treated in the same way, provided it was set shallow, 
say two inches deep, in the first place. Milk set shal- 
low in a cold room will not throw up its cream so 
perfectly as when set in a warm room, because when 
shallow it drops to the temperature of the room before 
the cream is all up, and having ceased to derive any 
benefit from a decreasing temperature, it will not 



212 American Dairying. 

now throw up its cream with sufficient force to bring 
the heavier particles to the surface. Bearing in mind 
that the warmer milk is kept, up to a certain point, the 
sooner it spoils, 65° is a high temperature to set milk 
in ; yet, milk set two inches deep at 65° will throw 
up its cream quickly and perfectly when it would not 
do so if set at 50°, because the milk will very soon 
fall to the standard of the room and cease to derive 
any advantage from a falling temperature. As cream 
rises more rapidly in a high temperature than in alow 
one, it will, at two inches depth, in a temperature of 
65°, come up fast enough to rise perfectly before sour- 
ing begins. If we should set warm milk in vessels 
six inches deep, in a room at 65% it would take the 
cream so much longer to come up through that 
increased depth, and it would remain warm so much 
longer that the milk would spoil before it had all 
risen. But let the deep vessel be placed in a cold 
room, say 50°, and the result will be altogether dif- 
ferent. Unlike the shallow^ milk in the cool room, 
the increase of depth and bulk will so much prolong 
the time of cooling that the cream will all, or very 
nearly all, rise before the milk has dropped to the tem- 
perature of the room. We can now see how the argu- 
ments of the advocates of deep and shallow setting 
are derived. An experimenter having observed a fact 
like the last, in which the cream is perfectly raised in 
a deep vessel, declares in favor of deep setting as the 
best and only sure way to get all the cream ; and 
another one, having set milk two inches deep at 65°, and 
accomplished the same result, takes position on the 
other side and becomes an advocate of shallow setting 
under all circumstances. Each having weighed but 
half the facts, his arguments cover but half the ground. 



Butter Making. 21J 

Had both investigated more thoroughly, they might 
have been agreed in the position that all the cream can 
be obtained by either deep or shallow setting, if there 
is a proper adaptation of conditions ; and they might 
go farther, and lay it down as a rule, that the warmer 
the room in which milk is set, the less should be its 
depth, and the cooler it is, the greater may be the 
depth. By having the foregoing general statements 
well grounded in the mind, and keeping in distinct 
remembrance the relation between temperature and 
depth, especially the important effect of a falling 
temperature, any one can, with a little experience, be 
successful in raising cream perfectly at any tempera- 
ture from 40° to 70°. It will become clear that, though 
certain temperatures are desirable, they are not abso- 
lutely necessary to obtaining all the cream. There is 
a great deal of talk about an even temperature for 
raising cream, and so far as the dairy room is con- 
cerned, it is desirable that it should be uniform, 
because it gives regularity to all the operations of the 
dairy and aids in securing uniform results, but so far 
as the single fact of raising the cream is concerned, it 
is better that the milk should not be kept at any one 
particular degree, but at a temperature steadily falling 
as long as possible. It is an important item in heating 
milk before setting it, that it gives a wider range of 
temperature for it to fall through. Low cooling con- 
tributes to the same result, at the other end of the 
scale ; but it is necessary to observe that, in using low 
temperatures, the depth and bulk of milk should be 
graduated to the warmth, so that the rising of the 
cream shall not be arrested by too soon bringing 
the temperature of the milk to a stand still. If the 
cooling is sufficiently rapid to prevent the milk from 



^7^ American Dairying, 

souring before the cream is all up, the slower the cool- 
ing the better, as the benefit of a falling temperature 
will be more fully availed of This is one reason why 
cooling milk in cold air is better than cooling in cold 
water; the water being a better conductor than the 
air, brings the temperature to a stand still too soon. 
But, at the beginning, the rapid cooling will throw up 
cream faster than slow cooling, but the slow cooling 
produces the best results in the end. 

The greater the number of degrees of temperature 
through which milk falls while the cream is rising, the 
more perfectly does it come up, other circumstances 
being equal. Milk cooled from 80° to 60° in twelve 
hours will not throw up its cream so rapidly nor so 
perfectly as when falling from 80° down to 40° in the 
same time. Facts like this have often been noticed 
and a wrong inference drawn from them. It is sup- 
posed because cooling to 40°, instead of 60% makes the 
most butter, that cream rises better the lower the tem- 
perature. But this inference is unwarranted and 
untrue, for if a mess of milk is divided and one-half 
cooled to 60° and the other to 40° before the cream is 
allowed to rise, and kept at those temperatures respect- 
ively, the cream will rise more rapidly and perfectly 
on the half cooled only to 60 degrees. This fact may 
be easily verified by experiment, and the general 
principle confirmed that cream rises better at high 
temperatures than at low ones when the temperature is 
unvarying. The other experiment will prove a very 
satisfactory demonstration of the fact in regard to the 
influence of raising cream while the temperature is 
depressing. Particular attention is called to these 
general facts, because some experimenters who are 
regarded as authorities, have fallen into the error just 



Butter Making, ^/j* 

alluded to. In effecting a separation between milk 
and cream, the influence of a falling temperature is so 
efficient and has been so long and so entirely over- 
looked, that it deserves a more extended notice than 
can here be given, but what has been said may be suffi- 
cient to direct attention to it. The practices in Sweden 
and the experiments of Tisserand and others, in cool- 
ing to low temperatures, which are just now going the 
rounds of the agricultural press in this country as 
evidence that cold favors the rising of cream, are 
obviously the result of a falling temperature rather 
than a low onQ,per se. 

Another important fact that aff'ects the separation 
of cream, is the growth of minute organic germs in 
the milk, which, up to a certain point, is greater the 
higher the temperature. 

There are thousands of germs in all milk exposed 
to the air, that are ready to start up and grow when- 
ever the milk is warm enough for them to do so, and 
by their presence, hinder the upward passage of the 
cream globules. The sour milk cells, are the prin- 
cipal obstructions in the way of the rising of cream ; 
they begin to form long before the milk begins to 
appear thick. The growth of other germs do injury 
by altering the flavor. 

Organic germs are prevented from interfering with 
the rising of cream, either by retarding their growth 
by cooling the milk, or killing them by heating. 

SKIMMING. 

The time at which skimming should be done and 
the best mode of doing it, are also subject to modifica- 
tion by circumstances. The most general rule is to 



2i6 Americaji Dairying, 

skim when the milk first begins to be sensibly soui'. 
When milk is to be used only for butter making and 
is set in broad vessels with little depth, the rule of 
fitness for skimming is a certain consistency of the 
cream. When the cream becomes so thick that it will 
not flow back behind the finger as it is passed through 
it, it is time to skim. If the vessels are very deep and 
the temperature very low, this rule will not be appli- 
cable, for the cream will remain soft and flowing for a 
long time after it is all up. Milk which is cooled 
down much below 50° while the cream is rising, 
remains sweet almost indefinitely. On such milk the 
cream continues to rise as long as it is sweet, but after 
sixty or seventy hours the quantity is almost inper- 
ceptible, and the quality so poor as to detract from the 
value of the butter more than will be added by 
increased quantity. The judgment of the operator 
must be the final appeal in all such cases. The sooner 
it is taken off" after it is all up the better. There is no 
advantage in keeping cream standing exposed to the 
air longer than is necessary for it to rise. 

In my early dairy experience a skimmer was the 
only implement made use of for removing cream from 
milk, but with me it has long since been laid by as 
neither convenient nor appropriate for the purpose. 
The impression once generally prevailed, and does to 
some extent still, that the cream should be separated 
as completely as possible from the milk before churn- 
ing. But this is not best— the butter is better and 
more of it is obtained b^ churning a portion of the 
milk with the cream. The cream and the milk taken 
with it, should constitute one-quarter of the milk. To 
churn less than this tends to injure the grain of the 
butter, by having too much butter in proportion to the 



Butter Making, 2iy 

liquid in the churn. The butter suffers by friction 
with a small amount of liquid in churning, which is 
obviated with more liquid. On this account some of 
the best modem butter makers churn the whole milk ; 
but I do not regard this as necessary. Since it is 
desirable to have some milk go with the cream, a skim- 
mer is not the best instrument to remove it with. In 
its place I use a broad and shallow tin scoop resem- 
bling a dust pan or a curd scoop, which I pass under 
the cream so as to take in the top of the milk with it. 
The top of the milk often contains considerable butter 
which this mode of skimming saves, but which is lost 
in using a skimmer, and not unfrequently some of the 
thinner "cream also. In deep setting cream should 
always be dipped off. 

PREPARING CREAM FOR CHURNING. 

From the time it begins to rise, cream is all the time 
changing till it is at last consumed by the products of 
the fermentation which goes on in the milk, if left stand- 
ing long enough. Ripeness is the term used to indi- 
cate the degree of advancement in this changing. The 
principal circumstance which affects the ripening of 
cream is temperature ; the cooler it is the slower it 
ripens and vice versa. To produce the best result for 
general use and the largest yield, the cream to be 
operated on should have a certain degree of ripeness 
which is indicated by a moderate sourness, and it 
should all be equally advanced. If some of it is sweet 
and some of it sour, or parts of it are of unequal 
sourness, the unlike parts will not churn in the same 
time and a part of the butter will be left back in the 
buttermilk. If a churning is to be composed of 



21 8 American Dairying, 

cream skimmed at different times, the different messes 
should be well mixed and stand together twelve hours 
at sixty degrees. If it is colder, it should stand longer, 
as the changes are slower and it will take a longer 
time for it all to assume the same condition. If it is 
warmer than sixty degrees, less than twelve hours will 
make it all alike. Unless there is some special reason 
for churning immediately, it is better to let cream 
stand twelve hours before churning than to churn as 
soon as it is skimmed, for it is generally not all ripe 
alike when skimmed, thousfh all taken off of one ves- 
sel. The upper part which is exposed to the air and 
light, generally ripens faster than the underside, if the 
air has humidity enough to keep the top soft,, and it 
will require time after skimming and mixing to make 
it all assume the same condition. If the air is so dry 
as to dry the top of the cream, it will require time for 
it to soak up soft again. When the circumstances are 
such that neither of these conditions occur, there is no 
objection to churning as soon as skimmed, if enough 
for a churning is skimmed at a time. It is not well 
to keep cream very long after removing it from the 
milk. Butter riiakers often lose by keeping it too 
long. Cream changes faster than milk. It both sours 
and decays sooner than milk under the same circum- 
stances. This makes it necessary to keep the cream 
jar cooler than the milk, if it musf be kept, but it is 
better and safer to churn often. If there is not enough 
for a churning of the cream alone, it is better to add 
milk and let the churning go on, rather than keep the 
cream beyond the proper time. 

If the temperature of the cream is to be changed 
before churning it should be done gradually. The best 
way to do it is to place it in a tin vessel and surround 



Butter Making, ^/p 

It with water, either cold or warm, according as the 
temperature is to be lowered or raised. 

FLECKS IN CREAM. 

White specks in butter come from different causes. 
There are at least two causes which seem to produce - 
tliis result: one is dried cream, but it is very seldom 
that dried cream produces the specks, for, if cream 
is dry^~i?7hen churned, unless the butter comes very 
quickly, churning long enough to bring the butter 
will dash the dried lumps to pieces. They will 
become soft and mingle with the buttermilk, and of 
course, no longer remain in lumps. But sometimes 
that may not occur ; they may not be so broken up but 
that particles of cream stuck together will appear. 
The usual cause of flecks in butter is the coagulation 
of drops of milk by the action of germs in them. In 
the fall, when the cows are being dried off, and the 
milk remains some time in the cow's bag, specks are 
very likely to appear. If a glass vessel that can be 
looked through is used, flecks may often be seen 
developing in the bottom. The growing germs will 
curdle a little milk and by the fermentation which 
centers around that spot, gas will be formed in the 
fleck and it will become lighter than the milk and 
work its way up to the top, where it will be found 
in the cream. At another time, it will develop in the 
cream. The germ will coagulate a little bit of milk 
and remain there; and when churned, the lump of 
curd will not be broken to pieces. If such milk is 
scalded the white specks will not appear. 

These specks are sometimes developed by the 
action of air and light. I have taken two pans 



2^6 American Dairying. 

of milk from the same mess and set them side by 
side; one pan would have the specks in it, and the 
other would not. I was at first a little puzzled to 
account for this ; but after a while, I found that the 
light, which shone into a window, struck one pan 
and developed the germs, thus making the specks. 
■The development was not so rapid in the other pan, 
because it was in tlie shade, so the specks did not 
appear. I have had them appear in one cow's milk 
and not in another's, when the milk of both cows was 
placed just alike, and subjected to the same influences, 
in every particular. Specks of dried cream may not 
injure the quality of the butter materially, but when the 
conditions of milk or cream are such as to develop 
flecks by coagulating specks of milk, I do not think as 
good butter can be made. The specks in butter may be 
dried cream, but they are oftener floating curd, made 
by the development of germs in the milk. A current 
of air will in a very short time produce flecks; it will 
ripen the germs that lie on the top of the cream, so 
that little specks will very soon form and be seen 
floating on the surface. It will bring other germs 
into the same condition, just as one apple rotting in a 
barrel will make half a dozen others rot around it. 
Those which form down in the milk are composed 
almost entirely of curd, the atoms pf which are bound 
firmly tor^ether probably by the mycelium of the fun- 
gus which has occasioned their formation. Those 
which form in the cream are partly curd, but largely 
cream which do not break to pieces by the action of the 
churn. Some butter makers after the cream is ready 
for the churn, strain it to pulverize whatever there may 
be of flecks from dried cream or any other cause in it. 
The instrument used for this purpose is a cone-shaped 



Butter Making. 221 

strainer, the pointed end of the cone being made of 
wire gauze, with a band of tin at the broad end as a 
support. An interior cone of wood is made to rotate 
over the gauze and crowd the cream through, pulver- 
izing any lumps and grinding flecks or fat to atoms 
if any there be in the cream. But this is a labor of 
doubtful utility. If the flecks come from dried cream 
the difficulty would be sufficiently removed by mixing 
and stirring the cream and letting it stand awhile 
before churning. It takes but a very short time for 
dried cream to soak so soft as not to be distinguished 
from the rest. If it would not do so, crowding it 
through the meshes of a wire sieve would not help the 
matter much. In case there are flecks it would be 
much better to leave them whole, as they would be 
much less likely to get mingled with the butter than 
in their pulveriz^ state. They never churn in either 
case and their presence in the butter detracts from its 
good quality and keeping. Flecks usually come from 
a faulty condition of the milk, and the butter made 
from such milk should not be mixed with other butter, 
as it wuU not keep like butter from sound milk. They 
may be prevented by scalding the milk in which they 
occur to 130°, to kill the germs which occasion them. 
When the milk is very much affected a higher heat 
will be necessary. 

COLORING. 

When butter is very pale its market value is 
enhanced by coloring it. This should always be done 
in the cream just before churning, and it is best done 
with annattoine or some preparation of annatLo. No 
coloring should be added directly to the butter; it 
would be impossible to incorporate any coloring ma' 



222 American Dairying. 

terial evenly with the butter after it has been churned, 
without injury to the grain of the butter, and I know 
of no material which could be used that would not 
injure the butter by direct contact. Some color butter 
with carrot juice, and a few do so whether it is to be 
sold or used at home, because they lilce the modified 
flavor given to the butter by the addition of carrot 
juice. But the great majority of consumers, especially 
those with cultivated taste, prefer the taste of good 
butter to that of carrots, and to all such the carrots do 
a double injury, for they injure the keeping as well as 
the flavor. The vegetable matter soon decays and 
works the destruction of the butter by its own decom- 
position. 

Butter makers can prepare their own coloring by 
dissolving annattoine in potash, using equal weights 
of potash and annattoine, with watof enough to give 
the strength desired. It is most convenient to make 
it concentrated. Some add as much sal soda as potash, 
and- think the color is improved by the addition. 
When annatto is used it should be dissolved in strong 
ley and boiled, then strained, and when it has settled, 
the pure liquid turned off from the sediment. 

Artificial coloring for butter should always be 
sparingly used. The added hue is seldom, if ever, 
quite equal to the natural one, and if it is a little too 
strong it disfigures by giving an unnatural appearance. 

It requires some skill to prepare the coloring, which 
is only acquired by experience. To be sure of having 
a good article and to avoid the muss which its prepara- 
tion generally makes, it is better for all small dairies, 
at least, to buy the small amount they use, ready made. 
The American preparation of Wells, Richardson & 
Co., Burlington, Vt., and that of Nicholson, are 



Butter Making. 22j 

among the best, and one or the other, or both, are for 
sale by all dealers in dairy supplies. 

CHURNING. 

Before discussing the process of churning and 
working butter, a brief explanation of what is under- 
stood by the grain of butter seems appropriate. 

It has already been stated that butter is made up of 
the fat globules in milk which adhere after having 
been divested of their delicate membraneous envelopes 
by churning, and that these' little atoms of fat are 
themselves made up of several varieties of fatty ele- 
ments, such as stearine, palmatine and oleine. These 
fatty elements have in each globule not only a definite 
composition, butralso a definite organization, as much 
so as that assumed by the several parts composing an 

egg- 
When butter can be churned and worked so as to 
leave the disrobed granules of fat whole, or nearly so, 
if a piece of it at 60* or below is broken in two, it will 
show a clear and distinct fracture like broken cast iron, 
and when the fracture is viewed with a magnifier, it 
will show a granular structure. This unbroken and 
undisturbed condition of the granules of fat, is what 
constitutes the grai?i of butter. 

In this condition butter has its best flavor and best 
keeping quality. If the churning, working or hand- 
ling has been such as to mash and break the granules, 
the fatty elements composing them become mixed and 
the oily parts spread and give to the whole a greasy 
appearance, and the fracture, instead of being distinct 
like that of cast iron, will be more like a fracture of 
lard, green putty, or salve. The more the atoms of fat 



22/1- American Dairying, 

• 

are mashed and broken, the more the flavor is depressed 
and the sooner the butter spoils, just as an ^gg might 
be expected to spoil the sooner for having its contents 
disturbed and mixed up. The difference in the keep- 
ing of butter whether the grain is broken or not is 
very great. When the grain is all right butter maybe 
kept under great disadvantages and almost anywhere. 
If the grain is spoiled it will hardly keep long under 
any circumstances, and the flavor is about as much 
afl'ected as the keeping. 

In ail the processes, therefore, of making and hand- 
ling butter, the preservation of the grain should be 
kept constantly in view, and those methods adopted 
which will do it the least violence and have the least 
tendency to make it appear greasy. The right tem- 
perature too must be observed, for if too cold when 
manipulated, the granules will grind against each 
other and injure by the friction, and if too warm, the 
grain is spoiled by the too easy mixingof the softened 
fats. 

The object of churning is to divest the milk globules 
of their delicate membraneous covering without break- 
ing or disturbing the granules of fat within them. 
This is best done by a force in which motion 7V0.6. pres- 
sure are combined. Such a power is much better than 
motion ^nd frictio?i. Repeated impulses of motion and 
pressure act upon the entire mass at once and alike. 
Motion and friction act only upon such particles as 
the instrument used comes in contact with. Friction 
wears off" the pellicles and does its work unevenly. 
The larger globules meet with the most friction and 
hence their pellicles are worn off first. These gather 
into lumps before the smaller ones become churned. 
If the churninof continues till the smaller ones "come,' 



Butter Makifig. 



22S 



the larger ones become over churned and greasy by 
the excessive friction. Pressure operates upon large 
and small nearly alike, and the 
globules of different sizes come 
nearer together and more per- 
fectly, producing more and better 
butter. 

The devices for churning are 
very numerous. The one most 
extensively in use in this country 
is the old dash churn. It is also 
the hardest to operate ; but when 
properly constructed it does its 
work in the best manner. To do 
the best work they should be bar- 
rel shaped, having a moderate 
swell in the middle, and the dasher 
should be large enough to occupy 
three-quarters of the area of a 
horizontal section of the middle 
of the churn. The dasher should 
either be a complete circle or have f^s-js- 

the form of figure i^, the floats or wings being broad 
and whole instead of being narrow, notched and full 
of holes, as in figure 37. The large dasher as here 
figured, will require about once and a half as much 
power to operate it as the smaller and narrower one 
with its notches and holes, but it will give more and 
better butter and do its work in one-half the time, or 
in the same time at a few degrees lower temperature. 
The smaller the dasher the easier it works and the 
longer time it takes to bring the butter, and the poorer 
the butter. The more notches and corners and holes it 
contains, the more friction will it occasion, the more 




226 



A incrican Dairying, 



will the grain of the.butter be injured, and the greater 
the tendency to become greasy. The most objection- 
able form of dasher I have met with on account of 
making the butter greasy, is the system of checks in 
figure 2>'^. 







o 



loo 



\ o O /-> 


o / 
o o \ 




y oo 


/'' 





— — 





Fig. 3b. 



FiS- 37- 



Fig- 3S. 



There are other churns which operate essentially 
upon the same principle as the dash churn, and do 
their work easier. Among these I may name Bul- 
lard's oscillating churn, which has a reciprocating 
motion, works easily, and produces its effect by caus- 
ing the cream to strike the ends 
of the rectangular box with a 
thud as it suddenly changes the 
direction of its motion, pro- 
ducing an effect upon the whole 
mass of cream equivalent to the 
stroke of a large dasher in a 
dash churn. The barrel churn 
revolving endwise, produces a similar effect ; so also 
the revolving rectangular churns, whether suspended 
at the middle of opposite sides, or at opposite corners, 
as in Whipple's rectangular churn. These churns 
require considerable diameter, two feet or more, to 
make the cream fall far enough to produce a sufficient 
concussion in falling from side to side. 




Fig. 39- 



Butter Making, 



22y 



Next to the old dash churn, the Blanchard churn is 
the most popular, a hundred thousand of them are 
said to be now in use. It is cheap and durable, 
quickly cleaned and operates easily, and gives general 
satisfaction to its numerous patrons. It has recently 
become very popular as a factory churn, large sizes 
having been made specially for that purpose. 




Fig 40 
BLANCHARD CHURN. 



The choice of a churn is sometim.es of considerable 
consequence and sometimes not. AVhen butter is to 
be made from the milk of Channel Island cows, the 
Holderness or the Devon, the butter comes so easily 
that it makes little difference about the kind of churn 
or whether the cream is sweet or sour. With the 
milk of the Natives, the Ayrshire, the North Holland 
and the Shorthorn cow, the case is often quite dif- 



228 American Dairying, 

ferent. Their cream generally requires so much 
churning that the best apparatus to do it with must be 
selected or injury will be done to it. 

The best temperature for churning is generally 
sixty degrees, but it varies with circumstances. Sour 
cream not only churns easier, but will come at a 
lower temperature than sweet, but it should not be too 
sour. If it is allowed to get very sour the quantity 
of butter will be diminished and the labor of churning 
increased, instead of diminished, and perhaps the 
cream injured so much that the butter will never come. 
When whole milk is churned it requires to be about 
four degrees higher than the cream of the same milk, 
both being in the same condition as to sourness. 
In the dash churn the temperature of the cream 
should vary with the size of the dasher. Cream, just 
a little sour, will churn well at 58° with a dasher equal 
to ^ of a horizontal section of the churn ; if equal 
to ^, it will churn well at 60" to 61°; if only equal to 
X, it will require the cream to be d^^^ to 64°. Except- 
ing cream from the milk of Jersey cows, and milk of 
similar quality, sweet cream will require to be about 
four or five degrees higher than it would if sour, to 
churn in the same time. 

All other circumstances being the same, the amount 
of churning necessary to bring the butter increases 
with the distance from the time of calving, or to 
churn in the same time the temperature requires a 
slight but gradual rise. This increased labor of 
churning is occasioned by a gradual decrease in the 
size of the milk globules. For this reason the milk 
of farrow cows does not churn well with new milk. 
Cream from the milk of a cow eighteen months after 
palving, requires about once and a half the time for 



Butter Making. 22^ 

churning as at one month after calving. The conver- 
sion of cream into butter is greatly facilitated by 
scalding the milk or cream while it is sweet. The 
scalding may be done when the milk is first drawn, or 
at any time afterward, provided it is not postponed till 
souring begins. 

Winter churning is often very difficult and some- 
times impossible, without the aid of scalding, and the 
higher the scalding, the easier the cream churns. At 
other seasons of the year, milk, which is for some 
reason faulty, often has the labor of churning greatly 
abridged by scalding nearly to a boiling heat. 

At the commencement of churning the operation 
should be slow till the cream is well mixed, after 
which the speed may be increased to the uniform rate 
to which the churn is adapted. But in no case should 
it be very rapid or do great violence to the cream ; a 
moderate motion makes the best butter. This is 
especially true when the butter begins to come. If 
the churning has been rapid before, it should slacken 
as soon as the butter begins to collect in visible lumps, 
as it will be more easily affected by the friction of the 
churn after the lumps form than before. 

It is generally customary to collect the butter into a 
solid mass before leaving the churn — to " gather " it. 
This is best done by cooling the contents of the churn 
gradually, as the butter begins to come or show signs 
of coming, and operating the churn slowly. 

Butter gathered in the churn always contains more 
or less buttermilk, which would soon spoil the butter 
if not removed. There are two ways of removing 
it. One is by kneading it in water or brine, and the 
other by kneading it without water. One is called 
"washing" and the other "working." The former 



2 JO American Dairying. 

removes it much more readily than the latter. As 
to which is the better way there are conflicting 
opinions. Some would not have their butter washed 
on any account, because they believe the flavor and the 
keeping of the butter are thereby injured; while 
others are equally tenacious in the use of water, and 
believe as firmly that the flavor and keeping are 
improved by washing. 

The flavor of butter which has been washed is dif- 
ferent from that which has not been washed. The 
difference between washed and unwashed butter is 
analagous to the diff'erence between clarified and 
unclarified sugar. The former consists of pure sac- 
charine matter, the latter of sugar and some albumi- 
nous and flavoring matters which were contained in 
the juice of the cane mingled with it, which give a 
flavor in addition to that of the sugar. Brown sugar 
though less sweet, has 7Jiore flavor than clarified sugar. 
When unwashed, there is always a little buttermilk 
and sugar adhering to the butter that give it a pecu- 
liar flavor in addition to that of pure butter, which 
many people like when it is new. Washing removes 
all this foreign matter and leaves only the taste of the 
butter pure and simple. Those who prefer the taste 
of the butter to the foreign ingredients mixed with it, 
like the washed butter best. 

The assertion is often made, and many people 
believe, that water washes out the flavor of butter, but 
it only cleanses the butter of the buttermilk, sugar 
and milk acid, which may adhere to it, just as clari- 
fying sugar removes from it the foreign matters which 
modify its true flavor. The flavor of bvitter consists 
of fatty matters which do not combine with water at 
all, and cannot therefore be washed away by it. 



Butter Making. 2ji 

The effect of washing upon the keeping quality of 
butter depends upon the purity of the water with 
which the washing is done. If the water contains no 
foreign matter that will affect the butter, it will keep 
better for washing the buttermilk out than by work- 
ing it out. But if the water is hard from the presence 
of lime, or contains anything that could injure the 
butter by contact with it, washing becomes an injury 
instead of a benefit to its keeping. Nothing but the 
best and purest water should be used about butter. 
Very hard water is always objectionable. It is not, 
however, so objectionable as the water from wells, 
which contain a muddy sediment so full of organic 
matter as to become tainted. Water standing over 
such mud takes in the taint, and if used for washing 
butter, is sure to injure it for long keeping. There is 
a good deal of well water, otherwise good, which is 
rendered entirely unfit for using about butter by 
reason of sediment at the bottom of the well. 

This is frequently the case in dry times when wells 
get low and the influx small, and the water in them is 
too slowly changed. I once saw a lot of nice butter 
spoiled entirely for table use, in twenty-four hours, by 
being washed with water from a well which was low, 
and the sediment in its bottom had become affected. 
It is not a very uncommon occurrence to find water 
in wells which people do not object to using for culi- 
nary purposes, so much affected by sediment as to be 
detrimental when applied to butter. 

For washing butter, brine is better than water alone, 
especially when the weather is warm and the butter 
soft. It cools the butter and takes up the buttermilk 
more readily than fresh water. In many cases it will 
prevent water from injuring butter that would be 



2J2 American Dairying, 

objectionable if used without the salt. It is perhaps 
needless to say that the salt used for this purpose 
should be of the purest kind. 

A new practice in manipulating butter in the churn 
is coming into use among fancy butter makers in New 
York and New England, by which a saving in labor 
and an improvement in the quality of butter is effected. 
As the plan originated with John Higgins, of Speeds- 
ville, N. Y., I will describe his method of working: 
Mr. Higgins uses the dash churn with a large dasher 
as recommended on a previous page, and churns with 
a slow stroke, about forty to the minute, till the butter 
begins to come, at which time the contents of the churn 
are 59° or 60°. He then turns in cold water, at two or 
three short intervals, till the cream rises high enough 
to prevent the dash from quite clearing it in its upward 
stroke. The water to make this increase is made cold 
enough to reduce the contents of the churn to about 
55°. The motion of the dash is slackened to about 
twenty strokes per minute, and so continued till the 
whole mass of butter forms in granules of the size of 
small peas or finer, which it will always do if the tem- 
perature is sufficiently low. The granules of butter 
which are thus formed are very hard and compact, and 
entirely free from buttermilk in their interior. The 
advantage of gathering in this granulated form is, 
that the butter is perfectly freed from buttermilk by 
rinsing with cold water without any working what- 
ever, thus avoiding entirely the injury usually done to 
butter by that process. To effect this, Mr. H.'s practice 
is to dip or skim off the butter in any convenient way 
and put it into a vessel of water at 54°. A little stir- 
ring relieves it of so much of the buttermilk that a 
second washing cleanses it entirely. It is then laid on 



Butter Making. 2JJ 

the butter worker and as soon as the wafer has drained 
off it is ready to salt. Six pounds of salt to loo 
pounds of butter are mixed with the granulated but- 
ter by stirring, and a few strokes of the lever bring 
the whole into a solid mass, which is set away in a 
cool room six hours, and then receives alight working 
when it is ready to pack. This method of gathering 
in a granulated form preserves the grain of the butter 
in the most perfect condition, and gives to it the 
highest flavor and the best keeping quality. It has 
been found that when butter is thus gathered in 
granules it may, as soon as rinsed, be at once put into 
vessels in its granulated form, without either working, 
salting or packing, and the vessel filled with strong 
brine and closely covered or tightly headed, and that 
it will in this condition keep unchanged for long 
periods. Butter made in July and put up in this way, 
was opened in the following January, and when the 
brine was rinsed off it was found to be just as fresh 
and sweet as when it came from the churn. Upon 
salting and working it into solid form for use upon the 
table, it had all the freshness and aroma of butter just 
made. This mode gives the finest gilt edged butter. 

WORKING BUTTER. 

The object of working butter is to free it from but- 
termilk, to mix salt through it evenly, and to make 
the mass as solid as possible. 

The less labor with which these ends can be accom- 
plished, the better for the butter. If well washed in 
the churn or in a butter bowl, very little working will 
free it from the water left in by washing ; if unwashed, 
considerable working may be saved by pressing the 



2j/[. American Dairying. 

butter with a damp linen or cotton cloth, alternating 
with the use of the ladle or lever. 

There are a great many devices in use for working 
butter— quite too many to be separately described. 
Some of them are very excellent and convenient while 
others are only supposed improvements. For small 
dairies the common wooden bowl and ladle are in 
general use, and all things considered, are perhaps the 
best. For larger dairies, factory and creamery use, 
the slab and lever make a cheap and excellent w^orker, 
and one that is durable and easy to clean. The slab 
and lever do the work as perfectly as any of the more 
complicated workers I have examined, and cost the 
least and last the longest, and hence are in extensive 
use where large quantities of butter are manufactured. 
They are made of two inch w^hite oak, maple or birch 
plank, three to six feet long and two to four feet wide 
at one end, and half as wide at the other. A thicker 
plank is often used. It stands on three legs and 
inclines toward the narrow end so as to drain off 
the liquid worked out of the butter, which is con- 
ducted down the slope by means of a shallow groove 
on either side of the plank. A loosely fitting 
standard sets, in a hole at the middle of the lower 
end of the plank, resting upon a shoulder, and 
fastened in place by a pin through the end, which 
reaches down below the plank. Through a hole in 
this standard one end of the lever is inserted and the 
other is handled by the operator. The working is 
best done by pressing upon the butter with the lever 
which should be four inches through, and which may 
be square, octagonal, three-cornered, round, or flat on 
one side and round on the other, to suit the fancy of 
the workman. The structure of this simple butter 



Butter Making. 



235 




Fig. 41. 



worker, if not already 
familiar, will be under- 
stood by figure 41. 

With whatever machine 
the butter is worked the 
working should be done 
hy pressing on the butter, 
and all rubbing, sliding, 
or grinding motion most 
carefully avoided, as it 
breaks the grain and 
makes the butter greasy. 
The temperature of the 
butter should be 58" to 
work with the best effect and greatest facility. If 
more than a few degrees either above or below 58°, 
the work will not be so perfectly or so rapidly done, 
and the grain will be affected, in one case by being too 
soft and the other too hard. It is a common fault 
w^ith butter makers to work their butter too much. A 
watchful attention is necessary to guard against this. 
Not a stroke of the ladle or lever should be used 
beyond what is actually needed. Every unnecessary 
stroke tells on the quality. As soon as ready, the salt 
should be evenly incorporated, always doing it with 
the least possible labor, and then the butter set away 
for six to twelve hours for the salt to dissolve, and then 
worked again with a light working. Some dairymen 
are in the habit of working but once and packing as 
soon as salted. This treatment will not spoil good 
butter, but when the finest quality is desired and the 
butter is to be long kept, the practice is not advisable. 
When the salt is added to the butter it absorbs the 
water of composition and leaves the butter a little 



2j6 American Dairying, 

porous. A short second working makes it. more solid. 
A firkin which will hold lOO pounds of butter worked 
once, will hold about 102 pounds of butter worked 
twice. The second working should be barely enough 
to press the mass firmly together and get out a part 
of the brine. To remove all the brine makes it too 
dry, but not to work out any, leaves too much in and 
the texture a little spongy. 

In selecting salt for use in the dairy, whether for 
butter or cheese, the purest made should be preferred. 
A reference to analyses is the most reliable guide for 
deciding the question of purity. The fancy of man- 
ufacturers often leads astray. There are several 
varieties of salt in use of which one or the other is 
tenaciously clung to by individual makers, and firmly 
believed to be better than all others, which in fact is 
not at all superior to many of the rejected varieties. 
Among the best varieties of salt in common use for 
butter, may be named the Onondaga factory filled salt, 
the Ashton, Higgin's, Marshall, Dean's, Deakin's, 
Boston, Worthington, Washington and others, which 
are all good. 

The Ashton has many favorites and is an excellent 
salt. Recent tests have proved the Onondaga factory 
filled equal to the best, and as it is generally cleaner 
than the Ashton, and a good deal cheaper than any of 
the foreign brands, it is more extensively used than 
any other, and is increasing in favor with fancy butter 
and cheese makers. It requires to be ground very 
fine as it does not dissolve quite so readily as some 
others. 

Where an analysis is not accessible for judging of 
the purity of salt, a good test can be made by observing 
it§ behaviour in damp weather. If, when the weather 



Butter Making. ^J'/ 

is damp, salt will attract moisture enough from the air 
to appear wet, it is unfit for putting into butter 
or cheese. Pure salt remains dry in wet weather. It 
may stand in a cellar all summer without being sensi- 
bly moist. It is the impurities in salt (notably the 
chloride of calcium) which attract moisture and make 
it appear wet, hence salt which will vary witli every 
change in the hygrometric condition of the air should 
be rejected by dairymen as impure and unfit for 
their use. 

In salting butter regard need only be had to season- 
ing. For this purpose the quality is varied from one 
ounce down to one-half an ounce to a pound of but- 
ter, to suit the taste of different individuals and 
markets of the country. No increase of salt need 
ever be added for preserving butter. The smallest 
amount used for seasoning is always more than enough 
to do all that salt can do toward preserving butter. 
Its keeping depends chiefly on other conditions than 
salting. 

When, for long keeping, a stronger antiseptic 
power is desired than is furnished by the salt used for 
seasoning, it had better be supplied by saltpetre, rather 
than by adding more salt to injure the flavor of the 
butter. For this purpose the salt used for seasoning 
may be composed of five to eight percent, ot saltpetre, 
finely pulverised and mingled with it. This will aid 
in the preservation of the butter without injury to 
flavor. Some people object to saltpetre, fearing its 
effect upon health. No well grounded objection can 
lie against its use on that account, unless an extrava- 
gant and needless amount of it is used. In the pro- 
portion suggested it is just as wholesome as salt, and 



2j8 American Dairying. 

like salt, enters into the nutrition of different parts of 
the body. 

Sugar, when perfectly pure, has also a strong anti- 
septic quality when applied to butter, and may be 
used when it is known that the consumers' taste will 
be suited with it. But many butter fanciers do not 
relish the modified taste given by the sugar so well as 
the taste of the pure butter, and hence its general use 
would be objectionable. 

PACKING BUTTER. 

In packing butter for preservation or for con- 
venience in transporting to market, it is necessary to 
guard, first, against its receiving any foreign taste or 
infection from the vessel in which it is packed ; second, 
against contact with the air; third, against the effects 
of unfavorable temperature, and fourth, against dam- 
age and loss by soakage. 

For the preservation of butter, metallic packages 
which would neither act upon, nor be acted upon by 
butter or anything it contains, would be very desirable, 
because first, they would avoid all loss and deteriora- 
tion by soakage, second, they would impart no foreign 
flavor to their contents, and third, they would afford 
perfect exclusion from the air. Pure tin answers this 
demand. It allows of no soakage and is not acted 
upon by butter, or the water, or salt, or acids it con- 
tains, and imparts no flavor to the butter, and is only 
deficient in protecting against temperature. A wooden 
envelope would afford this protection. But it is diffi- 
cult to obtain pure tin, as the tin of commerce is gen- 
erally more or less alloyed with some other metal which 
salt or lactic acid will corrode. 



Butter Making, 2jg 

To obviate these difficulties, packages have been made 
of tin, enclosed with wood and lined with paraffinc, 
which work very well but are rather expensive. 

Enameled cast iron has also been tried which is 
subject to the same objection as above, and also to 
being affected by temperature. Various other means 
have been tried for the safe and convenient convey- 
ance of butter to market, but a package which will 
not affect the butter nor allow of soakage, and which 
will be air-tight and not be affected by temperature, 
and yet be so cheap as to go to the consumer with the 
butter without being required to be returned, is still 
a desideratum. 

Wooden packages, with all their faults, continue to 
be the chief means for storing and transporting butter. 
Most of the trouble which arises from their use is 
occasioned by a faulty preparation of the wood before 
using. 

Wood in its natural state is so porous as not to pre- 
vent access of air to the butter it encloses. It also 
contains sap which, from being dried down in season- 
ing, requires a long time to soak out, and gummy 
products which water fails to remove. If these are 
not taken out before use, they gradually work out by 
the agency of the salt in the butter, and injure it. 
Superheated steam or boiling hot brine will quickly 
take out of wood whatever of sap or gum it may 
contain. Brine is within the reach of every dairyman 
and is the most convenient agent for the general 
manufacturer. 

To do this effectually the package should be soaked 
with strung brine, made with pure salt, for two or 
three days; then this brine turned out and boiling 
hot brine turned in, filling the package to the brim. 



^4^ American Dairying. 

When this has stood till it gets cold, the cask will be 
fit for use. All of the sap and gum which the salt 
in the butter can draw out will be removed, and the 
grain of the wood so filled with salt as to be effectually 
impervious to air. The heads or covers for packages, 
require the same treatment as the packages themselves. 

For preserving butter for any considerable time 
and for transporting long distances, firkins or barrel 
shaped packages which will hold about loo pounds, 
are the most in use, and if prepared as above directed 
answer the purpose well. If soaked only in 
water, or if soaked in cold brine, the sap will not be 
so fully removed from the wood but what it will soak 
out into the butter and injure more or less of the part 
which lies next to the wood. But when prepared as 
described, the butter next to the wood is just as good 
as that in the middle of the cask. 

The practice of the best dairymen in using firkins 
is to take out one of the heads and cover the other 
with salt half an inch to an inch deep. It is then 
packed nearly full and perfectly solid, so as to have 
no air spaces at the side of the package, leaving 
room on the top of the butter to put on a layer 
of salt eqiial to that on the bottom head. A circular 
piece of fine bleached muslin, having a diameter half 
an inch greater than the top of the butter, is wet with 
brine and laid over the butter, which should be 
very even and smooth. Then with a wooden tool 
shaped like a gouge with a thin edge and with a cur- 
vature corresponding to the side of the package, the 
edge of the muslin is neatly pressed down between 
the outside of the butter and the cask. The package 
is then filled with salt and headed, and taken to the 
cellar or place of keeping, and the end having the 



Butter Makiftg. 24.1 

muslin on, turned down. In the head which was 
before d^wn, but is now up, a Y^ hole is bored and a 
saturated brine of pure salt turned onto the head till 
the space under the head is filled with brine and 
the top of the head well covered. A plug that 
will fill the hole is set loosely in it so that if the brine 
should soak away, that on top of the head will work 
down and keep the space full, the plug being chiefly 
useful to exclude light from the butter. When butter 
which has been well made is thus packed, it will keep 
a long time in a satisfactory condition. In a dry 
cellar that was moderately cool, I have known several 
instances in which butter has been kept through two 
summers and then put upon the market and sold the 
same as goods recently made. Butter for long keep- 
ing must be well made. If not well made, it will soon 
deteriorate, no matter how good may be the package 
that contains it. 

Tubs should be as carefully prepared as casks which 
admit of heading, and unless going into immediate 
consumption^ should be kept covered to exclude light 
and the top of the butter covered with brine. It is 
not necessary to have much depth of brine. I have 
noted the best results when tubs are to stand long, if a 
cloth is laid over the butter as described for firkins, 
and covered with salt an inch or so deep. Then just 
water enough turned on to make a thin coat of brine 
next to the butter, say one-quarter of an inch deep, 
leaving a good coat of dry salt above the brine. This 
affords a better protection to the butter than when the 
brine covers the salt. 

A good many dairymen are now very successfully 
preserving and transporting butter in rolls. Packages 
which can be headed are employed. The butter is 



24-2 Avierican Dairying. 

made into cylindrical rolls of the desired size witli the 
ends flattened. Each roll is wrapped with jf piece of 
fine bleached muslin cut to fit it. One head of the 
cask is removed and a tier of rolls standing on end 
is placed on the bottom, another tier upon this, and 
so on till the cask is full. It is then headed and, 
tlirough a hole in the head, filled with a saturated 
brine. The hole is then plugged and the butter is 
ready either for transportation or preservation. The 
rolls present the butter in a very convenient and 
desirable shape for retailing. Packing in brine has 
one important advantage over packing in ice, as is 
often done in transporting butter in warm weather. 
After being packed in ice it perishes rapidly upon 
exposure to the air, while that in brine keeps all the 
better for having been in the brine. 

A great many devices have been made which I have 
not space to enumerate, for keeping butter and carry- 
ing it to market in such a way that it can be placed 
upon the table in a more convenient and desirable 
form than is given to it when cut out of a solidly 
packed tub or firkin. In the most of these devices the 
butter is made into pound, half pound or quarter 
pound prints at the dairy, and then arranged on shelves 
in boxes of various patterns with or without ice. Tin 
boxes of a size just suited to receive the print in a 
fine muslin envelope, make a very safe and convenient 
instrument for preserving the perfect form of the print 
during its journey to the retailer or consumer. The 
tins when packed within a wooden box will carry 
their contents a long way without marring. 

The efforts being made to get butter to market in a 
well preserved and tasty form, are worthy of all 
encouragement. There is no article of food which 



Butter Making. 



243 



appears in the general market, whose market value 
is more affected by its appearance than butter. The 
neater and more tasty the form in which it can be 
presented, the greater price will it bring, the better 
satisfaction will it give, and the more will there be 
consumed to give a demand for an increased produc- 
tion. Some economical way of packing butter whicli 




Fi£r. 42. 



will keep it sweet and preserve it in a nice shape for 
the table on a large scale, and which will be compara- 
tively inexpensive and convenient, is now much 
demanded in butter dairying. One of the packages 
which comes as near as any I have met with to answer- 
ing this demand, is known as the Adams package, of 
which figure 42 is an illustration. The butter is 



^^/f. American Dairying. 

molded into cubical blocks weighing just one pound, 
and each block is encased in a thin envelope of deoder- 
ized wood, consisting of two pieces, which are 
cut in such a way as to hold themselves in place 
when put on. The blocks thus encased are packed in 
a box of wood with a metallic lining protected" from 
rusting. The boxes are of three sizes, holding 2)^^ 45 
and 54 pounds respectively, and each is exactly filled 
with the cubes it is designed to hold. A little strong 
brine fills all the interstices between the cubes, entirely 
excluding air from the butter. A cover, as will be 
seen, is fastened down with a couple of thumb screws, 
closing the box air tight. Covered with brine and 
excluded from the air, and packed so snugly that they 
cannot move or mar, the parcels are in a position to 
go or stay at any season or by any mode of convey- 
ance without damage. This mode of packing seems 
to cover about all the requirements except the neces- 
sity of returning packages, and appears to be well 
adapted to the use of creameries and large dairies, who 
have occasion to supply distant customers, or those 
who desire to Tetain the package till the contents are 
consumed. Being kept air tight and under brine there 
is no deterioration in quality while the contents of the 
package are being consumed, though several months 
may elapse while doing it. 

When the distance is not too great and when the 
contents of a package are soon consumed, the return 
butter pail, figure 43 is in very general use for market- 
ing butter. They are cheap and durable, and con- 
venient to handle, and carry their contents in very 
good order. They answer the demands of a certain 
class of dealers and producers, and will not be likely 
soon to go out of use. 



Butter Making. 



24-5 




FiS- 43- 

For a smaller class of butter makers, who carry 
their goods to a near by town as fast as made, the 
package illustrated in figure 44, for which, and the 
preceding illustration, I am indebted to G. B. Weeks, 
Syracuse, N. Y. , is finding much favor. It is known as 

CHESEBRO'S DOMESTIC BUTTER JAR. 

Whenever it can be used with 
safety, a stone jar has long been 
recognized as one of the best 
things known to keep or market 
ibutter in. This recent invention 
is a stone jar with a wooden 
cover, which by the aid of pro- 
jections on the jar, and tinned 
hooks on the cover, screws on 
the jar with a close fit, very much 
like the cover of a fruit jar. 
They are made of different sizes 
and fitted, as will be seen, with a bail, which makes 
them convenient to handle, and the projection of the 




1'^ 41 



2/1.6 American Dairying. 

wooden cover beyond the sides of the jar protects it 
against breakages. As the cover screws on air tight 
and the stone ware is but a poor conductor of heat, 
the butter carried in them remains a long time with- 
out being affected with the heat. 

Having given a general account of the philosophy 
and principles of butter making, it may help to illus- 
trate the subject more fully to give in detail some of 
the special practices in private butter dairies, butter 
factories and creameries, respectively. And first, a few 
words in regard to practices, plans of buildings, and 
systems of management in 

PRIVATE DAIRIES. 

The common error in private dairies is to allow the 
milk to be too warm in hot weather, and too cold in 
cold weather. The cream will not rise perfectly in 
either case, and the resulting butter will be imperfect. 
The loss sustained in failing to get all the butter that 
a given. quantity of milk is capable of making, is much 
greater than is generally suspected. Few farmers 
know how much milk they are taking to make a pound 
of butter. They seldom weigh or measure, or even 
guess, at the quantity they are using. From what we 
have seen, and from facts gathered during a series of 
years, it appears that 28 to 30 pounds are usually 
required. Where the facts could be got at, the amount 
has varied all the way from 44 down to 20 pounds. 
If the practices in creaming and churning could be 
suddenly made so perfect as to get all the butter from 
the milk that it is capable of yielding, every fifth cow 
could be thrown out of the dairy, and the same 
quantity as at present obtained. If farnier§ would 



Butter Making. 2^'/ 

take a little pains to know more precisely what they 
are doing, such losses would not be endured. 

Creameries and butter factories usually give us 
precise figures, but even they are not always fortunate 
in showing the happiest results. In factories which I 
have visited, the difference in amount required for a 
pound of butter has run from 22 to 28 pounds, and 
this difference is due, not so much to the milk, as to 
the different modes of managing it. 

Where small dairies are kept, the conveniences for 
keeping milk for the cream to rise are often very im- 
perfect. They are either in a cellar where the air 
is confined and impure, or in an upper room which is 
not protected against the variations in temperature. 
To subject milk to the changes of our variable climate 
while the cream is rising, or the butter after it is 
made, is to spoil the peculiar qualities which constitute 
it a delicious luxury that will command a high price, 
and to reduce it to the level of common or inferior 
goods, which, instead of being sought after, must 
crowd their way to the hands of the consumer. It 
will pay every farmer who keeps half a dozen cows to 
build a milk room that will be proof against the 
changes of the weather, one from which he can shut 
out the heat, and that he can warm up with a stove 
when too cold. It need not necessarily be very large 
or expensive, but it should be tight enough to guard 
against both heat and cold. 

What has been done will perhaps indicate more 
forcibly what can be done. I know of a dairy house 
in New York, which was built twenty years ago for 
thirty cows, which I will briefly describe. An exca- 
vation was made at the east end of the farm-house 18 
* 

inches deep and 20 feet long by 18 wide, with the 



2^8 American Dairying. 

north side of the excavation on a line with the north 
side of the house. This large size was required on 
account of the use of eight quart pans. This was 
supplied with a good drain, a floor of flat stones, and 
surrounded by a double wall three feet high, laid in 
mortar, with an air tight space between them. On 
this wall was placed a wooden frame boarded up with 
tight joints on the outside and plastered inside, leav- 
ing an air space between the walls. The windows 
were double and the ventilation ample, reaching from 
the flagging to the floor over head. The south end of 
this room is protected from the rays of the sun by a 
churn room and shed for a horse-power to do the- 
churning with, and the east side by shade trees set for 
that purpose. It was a cheap structure, but it was w^ell 
planned and has answered the end for which it was 
built. It might, perhaps, have been better if it had 
been supplied with running water, but it has done 
very well without it. In the hottest weather the doors 
are kept closed during the day, and the mercury never 
rises over sixty-five, hence ice or running water is 
hardly needed. Soft water from a well that is cool 
(about 50°) is used for washing butter, and is con- 
sidered sufficient. In cold weather, a small stove 
prevents the temperature from falling below sixty. 

This cheap and unostentatious dairy house has held 
the milk for many tons of strictly fancy butter^ since its 
erection, and is operating satisfactorily still. Its pro- 
prietor has not the advantages which some have who 
live near large cities and can send in their butter 
every day, or while fresh and new, and who, perhaps, 
by the fancy or caprice of some individuals or houses, 
can get 75 cents or %\ a pound for goods which, if 
offered without a name, could not be distinguished 



Butter Makmg. 2/f.^ 

from hundreds of other samples that sell at no such 
figures. He is a plain, unassuming farmer, entirely- 
unknown to fame, and scarcely beyond his own im- 
meaiate neighborhood, and therefore sells his butter 
without any prestige or display, simply on its merits. 
Being made as it is, remote from market and put up 
in plain firkins for long keeping without the use of 
any ice or running water, or costly buildings or 
apparatus, or any display of extraordinary wisdom or 
skill, but simply by the use of plain practical common 
sense, I quote the example with no little satisfaction 
as a complete demonstration that any dairyman, no 
matter how far inland he may be, nor how plain or 
unvarnished himself or his premises, if he has the 
cows and the where-with-all to keep them and a well 
of good water, has within his" reach the means of 
making gilt edge butter, for all the rest depends on 
himself It affords a full refutation'^of the excuses 
which men are in the habit of making to themselves 
for sending to market butter below par instead of 
above, thinking honestly enough perhaps, that they 
cannot have a cool, even tempered milk room, or make 
the best butter, because they lack ice or running water, 
and are- too far from market to have their goods sell 
well. This example and others which might be cited, 
ought to encourage dairymen to aspire to -similar 
excellence, and to assure them that gilt edged butter 
is confined to no spot. 

Of course such butter cannot be made unless every 
step in the process is taken with care and skill. One 
wrong practice w^ould be fatal to fancy butter, for a 
wrong step once taken in butter making can never be 
recalled nor effaced. Its effects wnll run through the 
entire existence of the butter. 



2^0 American Dairying. 

A description of a more modern dairy house and 
the practices of its proprietor, will serve to further 
emphasize the possibility and importance of proper 
facilities for butter making. It is located in Franklin 
County, N. Y., in the midst of the best butter factories 
in the county, and is designed for the milk of fifty 
cows. The room is about 14 by 20 feet, 8 feet high, 
and located in the center of the north side of the 
dwelling-house. Its walls are plastered, and its 
ceiling neatly painted; its light and ventilation 
comes from a north window. It contains four 
pans 8 feet long by 3}^ wide and seven inches 
deep, and nothing else except the necessary pipes for 
the supply and w^aste of water, and for carrying away 
the sour milk. This room is kept secure by a lock 
and key, and no one is allowed to enter it but when it 
is necessary to the care of the milk. The pans are 
placed 20 inches apart, with one end standing against 
a partition that separates the milk room from a hall 
passing through the house. Through this parti- 
tion, a little above the end of each pan, is a hole, 
which is ordinarily kept closed with a plug. By 
means of a tin receiver and strainer, with a tube 
attached, the milk, when brought into the hall, is 
passed through the hole in the wall, and discharged 
into the pan, the carrier not entering the milk room. 
This prevents the milkers from carrying any filth into 
the room, or of polluting tlie atmosphere by any scent 
of the barn or milk yard that might attach to their 
clothes. In this way the air in the milk room is kept 
in the purest possible condition, and the milk is effect- 
ually prevented from absorbing any foreign odor what- 
ever. By following this systematic neatness through 
all the operations of the dairy, the butter comes out 



Butter Making. 2^1 

at the end of the manufacturing process, with nothing 
but its own natural flavor. The operations of skini- 
niing, churning, salting, working and cooling, are the 
same as in the factories, except that the cooling in the 
dairy, which is by water under the pan, is a little 
slower. This latter circumstance indicates whence 
the more perfect flavors and larger yield of the but- 
ter. The cows of this dairy, when I visited it, were of 
the same breed as those supplying milk to the fac- 
tories, had the same kind of pasturage, and no advan- 
tage of soil or location, or other circumstances exter- 
nal to the dairy management ; but the butter of this 
dairy was superior to that of any of the factories, both 
in its new and in its preserved condition ; and while 
the factories were using 23 pounds of milk for one of 
butter, this dairy was using only 20.2 pounds. The 
factory butter was esteemed by some as gilt edged. 
If so, then this was gilt with finer gold. It was indeed 
a very choice article. The methods of manufacture 
pursued in this dairy, though somewhat different from 
those of private dairies generally, did not vary much 
from those pursued in the neighboring factories. 

A DAIRY SPRING HOUSE. 

The following answer given to a correspondent in 
North Carolina, through the N. V. Tribune, may meet 
the wants of some others : 

I would build a spring house with the walls double 
and a good dead air space between them, perfectly 
tight. For 35 cows, 12x18 on the ground w^ould do ; 
8 feet between floors, and a ventilator overhead that 
could be easily regulated. Light should be admitted 
near the upper floor, and from a northern exposure. 



252 



A jnericajt Dairying. 



^,,,.„,^,.-,^^,,^,„^^,,^..^,^r,,^^.„ 



■.v^-.^^v.-^.:^vv^.V^ 



A 



A double door would be preferable. I should prefer 
using lars^e pans, as they save labor and yield more 

butter, but as cooler- 
pails are to be used,' I 
would divide the house 
by a partition, giv- 
ing two rooms 11x12 
and 7x12 respectively. 
The pool should be 
placed at one side of 
the large room, and be 



Pis- 45' 



17 inches deep, and divided into four compartments, 
so that when a mess of warm milk is put in, it will 
not warm up the cold milk. The whole pool may 
occupy 9 feet by 12, and be made either of cement or 
plank. The water should be admitted by a pige with 
a faucet for each compartment of the pool, so as to 
regulate the flow of water to secure the right temper- 
ature. The other apartment may be used for a churn 
room. The diagram will show the general idea. A, 
is the ante-room ; B B, doors ; C, churning room ; D, 
folding doors ; E, passage to the pools ; F F, pools. 

A correspondent of the Cincimiaii Gazette, gives the 
following, which is a very good way of constructing 
a milk room, where shallow setting is used without 
water or ice : 

Lay up a foundation with good hard burnt 'bricks, or with 
stones, a thirteen inch wall. On this set a frame, sa)' of five inch 
studding. After siding up, ceil on the inside, and fill in with 
charcoal. Overhead have a flooring and ceiling beneath the 
joists, putting charcoal between. This is a non-conductor of heat 
and also a good absorbent of foul air. Have doors on one end 
and on each side ; at least two-thirds the distance back from the 
door, put windows with sash hung at top, to be hooked up to 
ceiling. Get wire gauze, paint it, and tack over each window to 



1 



Butter Makitig. 2JJ 

exclude all vermin, " from a cat to a gnat." Now put from four 
to six inches of good gravel on the floor and pound it till it is 
solid; then cement this, as you would a cistern, also the side 
walls. As your frame will not extend in as far as your wall, you 
can put a shelf on it, say nine inches wide, which will be handy to 
use for various purposes. Lastly, put a six inch tube of galvan- 
ized iron at the rear end, running from within a foot of the ground 
to two feet above the roof, with a cap on top and an opening on 
each side equal to the diameter of the tube. Then, with good 
sweet pans you will have milk and butter that will do to set before 
a queen. Scrupulous cleanliness is very important; without this, 
no milk house will make good butter. 

The following plans for the construction of apart- 
ments suitable for creaming milk are novel and at this 
time attracting some attention : 

Prof. J. Wilkinson, of Baltimore, Md., has developed 
and patented a plan substantially as follows : He 
builds a dairy house of any desired form or size to 
suit the wants of the dairy, with double walls and 
floor, making it as near as may be air tight. The 
house may be partly below ground or wholly above, 
the former with a location with some inclination is 
preferred. An air duct is laid in the ground on the 
elevated side of the incline, loo feet or so in length 
and deep enough to be out of the reach of influence 
from frost and sun, and at the end, remote from the 
dairy, connects the duct with the open air by a tube. 
The other end opens into the dairj at, or near, the 
floor. This duct will, of course, fill with air. When 
the air above ground is warm, it' will soon become 
cool by entering the duct below ground, because the 
sides of the duct will have the uniform temperature 
of the earth at that depth, which is about 60 degrees. 
As it cools it becomes heavy and runs down into the 
dairy room, which if closed and tight, will be filled 
with air at 60°, for, as the cold air passes out of the 



2^^ American Dairying. 

duct at the lower end, the warm air follows in at the 
upper end, and in turn becomes cool and heavy and 
flows down into the dairy, keeping a constant current 
passing into the dairy, if there is a sufficient outlet 
for the cooled air to get 8ut of the way. When it is 
desired to stop the flow of cool air, or to lessen it, it 
is effected by turning a valve in the duct at its entrance 
into the dairy, and to prevent the room from filling 
any fuller than is necessary for cooling the milk or 
its products, a similar duct runs from the opposite 
side of the room down the incline, and at length 
discharges its contents upom the surface of the ground. 
The end of the discharge duct, when it enters the 
room, terminates in a flexible tube which may be 
elevated more or less, to vary at pleasure, the height 
to which the cool air shall rise before it runs out of 
the room. The cool air will not rise above the mouth 
of the discharge pipe. When the outside air is colder 
than the temperature in the ducts, the motion of the 
air will be reversed. It will rise in the upper duct 
and go out through the tube A and follow into the 
dairy through the lower duct, thus keeping the room 
at 60°, or as near as may be, the year round. 

The sub-earth ducts are made by an excavation like 
an ordinary underdrain, and at the bottom an A shaped 
channel is made with roofing tile by laying the upper 
edges together and setting the low^er ones against the 
outer edge of the "ditch, as represented in figure 46. 
which shows a section of the ditch as now made. 

The tile and the excavating and filling the ditch will 
generally cost about $1 per rod, making the cost of 
thus cooling and ventilating a dairy about $100. But 
when it is done it is expected to run itself indefinitely 
without further cost. 



Butter Making. 



255 



This system of cooling and airing a dairy has not, 
that I am aware of, been long enough in use to deter- 
mine fully by practical tests, the extent of its useful- 
ness, but it looks well theoretically, and some of its 
results can be easily foretold. First, the air which 
enters the room through the sub-earth duct will be 
pure as well as cool. The absorbent properties of 
earth, it is well known, will deprive it of all noxious 
gases and odors, and take up its moisture and dust. 




Fig. ^6. 



Whether the surface of the duct will ever become 
saturated so that it ' will cease to absorb the im- 
purities of the air, time must determine. But it 
is certain that the air, in passing slowly through 
the duct, cannot fail to fall to the temperature of 
the earth in which it is imbedded ; nor can it fail, 
for a time at least, to be entirely freed from vapor, 
dust and odors, by reason both of contact with the 
earth, and of condensation from its reduced tempera- 
ture. It allows of cooling milk with air instead of 
water. It is very much better for butter making to 
cool milk with cold air than to cool it with cold water. 



2^6 . American Dairying, 

When milk becomes colder than the air in the room 
in which it stands, as is the case when cooled with ice 
or cold water, it tends by its greater coldness to con- 
dense, and take in vapor from the surrounding air, 
with whatever of impurities that air may contain. But 
when the air is colder than the milk, the air becomes 
tl:e recipient, and takes up and holds whatever exha- 
lations may arise from the milk, and hence tends to 
deoderize it. It must be apparent that it would make 
a wide difference in the quality of butter, whether, 
while the cream is rising, the milk is cleansing the air, 
or the air cleansing the milk. 

The system appears to offer great advantages for 
private dairies and for all occasions wl;iere the milk 
can be spread out so as not to be more than about 
four inches deep. For very large masses of milk, 
which require large and deep vessels, it would not 
seem to be so well adapted. Large bodies of milk 
require a medium for cooling to have a temperature 
lower than 60% and to have a better power of conduct- 
ing heat than air at 60% to cool them soon enough to 
prevent spoiling. For *cooling large quantities of 
milk in deep vessels, ice or cold water becomes neces- 
sary. To make the sub-earth duct available in such 
cases. Prof W., proposes to connect the ice house with 
the dairy, and to pass an air duct under the ice, and to 
arrange it so as to be connected or disconnected at 
pleasure with the sub-earth duct. When it is 'desired 
to have the air in the dairy lower than 60°, by con- 
necting the sub-earth duct with the sub-ice duct, the 
air may be made to enter the dairy at a very low degree 
without the trouble of handling the ice, and thus with 
great ease and advantage cool much larger bodies of 
milk than could be done with the earth duct alone. 



Butter Making. 2^y 

While in no case, either from fear or favor, will the 
space in this volume be devoted to puffing patents or 
condemning them because they are such, when they 
promise anything useful ; and while the author is 
neither inclined himself to risk much on theory alone 
ti 11 corroborated by practical test, nor to advise others 
to do so, it has been deemed advisable not to omit a 
fair and unbiased statement of what may reasonably 
be expected of this patent, which seems to have enough 
of merit to challenge public attention, and the same 
remark will apply to the one which follows, and also 
to a few others which will be hereafter noticed. 

HARDIN'S METHOD. 

Mr. L. S. Hardin, an enterprising dairyman near 
Louisville, Ky., has adopted and published a plan of 
creaming milk which, in some of its features is novel 
and simple, and apparently so feasible as to attract a 
good deal of favorable notice. 

The plan was originally designed for, and is best 
adapted to farm dairies. It consists of what may be 
called a cooling cupboard — a box just large enough 
to hold the milk of the dairy, when put in. deep vessels 
like common cooler pails. The box is made as near 
air tight as may be, with closely fitting doors, and 
high enough to admit the coolers and leave a space 
over them for an ice shelf. In the bottom of the box 
is a pan four inches deep which Catches the drip from 
the ice above the milk. An inch space is left on each 
side of the shelf to give the heat arising from the milk 
access to the ice, which, slowly melting, drips down 
upon the covers of the cans and then into the pan at 
the bottom, in which the water is allowed to rise four 



^ss 



A merican Dairying, 




inches and no more. The cans are made with a per- 
forated rim at the bottom to allow the water to run 
under them. Thus the milk, i6 to i8 inches deep, stands 
in 4 inches of ice water, with the part above the water 

in air at 49° (F), or as 
near as it can be to that 
degree. See figure 47. 
Says Mr. Hardin : " I 
refuse to give the milk 
a particle of ventila- 
tion from the time it 
leaves the cow's udder 
■^ until it is put in the 
tchurn. The milk is 
y^ strained warm from 
^^ the cows into deep cans 
sr^*^^ and close fitting covers 
Fig- 47- fastened on, and the 

cans placed imrflediately in the refrigerator, and the 
temperature reduced with ice below 50°, and held at a 
low, even temperature 7,6 hours, when the cream is 
taken off sweet, and churned immediately at 58° in 
warm and 63° in cold weather. Any churn worked at 
40 strokes a minute will bring the butter in about 20 
minutes." 

This plan is known as a modification of the Swedish 
deep setting. It has some obvious advantages. ist, 
It economizes the refrigerating agent to the fullest 
extent. It is certainly a useless waste of ice or other 
cooling agent, to cool twenty times as much cubic 
space as the milk to be cooled occupies. 2d. It pro- 
duces cream of uniform ripeness. In setting milk in 
vessels which cool by ice or water below the temper- 
ature of the air in the milk room, the cream ripens 



Butter Making. 2^g 

unequally. The part exposed to the air ripens faster 
than the lower part which is unexposed and cooler. 
This unequal ripening is unfavorable to the butter 
and to perfeet churning. 3d. It favors the ascent of 
cream by cooling more intensely at the bottom of the 
vessel than at the top or sides, thus diminishing cur- 
rents in the milk. When milk is cooled from the top 
and sides the cooled milk settles down, making cur- 
rents which carry some of the cream down vv^ith the 
milk, and thus retard its rising. As the upper and 
main part of the cans stand in cold air instead of cold 
water, the cooling in the upper part is slow, utilizing 
more fully the effect of a falling temperature. The 
upper part of the milk, too, being for a time at least, 
warmer than the lower part, all the cream which 
comes to the surface stays up, which is an item of 
some value. 4th. Another favorable circumstance is 
the great number of degrees through which the milk, 
while still and free from currents, is made to fall. It 
can easily be made to drop through a range of 40°, 
thus widening to the fullest extent the difference 
between the specific gravities of cream and milk, 
which, as has been elsewhere shown, favor the rising 
of cream. Considering simply as a method of raising 
cream it must be fairly successful, when the cans hold- 
ing the milk are made sufficiently small. Large bodies 
of warm milk cannot be cooled with sufficient rapidity 
by admitting air only on the sides of the vessels, to 
prevent it from souring before the cream could rise. 
I should hardly expect that a body of milk of ordi- 
nary qualities, 10 inches in diameter and 18 inches 
deep, would cool soon enough to avoid injury before 
the cream would all reach the surface. 

Another peculiarity in Mr. H's. method^ is the com- 



26o American Dairying. 

plete saving it makes of all the flavoring oils which 
the milk contains. Some of these oils are always so 
volatile as to lose strength by standing open to the 
air, so that something of the very highest flavor which 
butter is capable of possessing, is liable to escape 
where milk is spread out very thin for the cream to 
rise. Mr. Hardin's method of closely covering the 
milk retains all this aroma in the cream, but in this 
respect his plan appears a little too economical for 
general use. It saves all the cowy odor peculiar to 
new milk, which an abundant experience has proved 
to be detrimental both to the flavor and keeping of 
butter. 

Mr. H. assumes that milk is perfect when it comes 
from the cow, or ought to be, and that its defects come 
by contact with the air, and that the more milk is aired 
the worse it is for it; and that "animal odor" is a 
myth that need not be regarded, a position in which 
he is certainly wrong. That there is something not 
quite perfect in milk as it comes from the cow, must 
be evident from the fact that people are often met with 
who cannot use the best of new milk at ail, until after 
the animal or cowy odor has passed off. It is objec- 
tionable to them not only because it is warm, but 
because of the nauseating flavor and odor it contains. 
There are many persons who can use milk warm after 
it has stood awhile, who cannot do so when it is new. 
There is no class of people who are so particular 
about having milk in the best possible condition as 
the managers of condensing factories. Everything 
that appears at all faulty is rejected, yet milk, while 
condensing, invariably gives off" a strong smell ot 
animal odor at the beginning of the process. Any 
one bringing his olfactories in contact with the vapors 



Butter Maki7ig. 261 

pumped from the vacuum pan in a condensing factory 
for the first twenty minutes, will not question that 
there is such a thing as animal odor in milk, and that 
it is a never failing and disagreeable accompaniment 
of new milk. That there is much less of this odor in 
some milk than in others, is true. It is also true that 
there is sometimes so little, that good results are 
obtained where new milk is cooled so quickly as to 
retain nearly the whole of it in the milk and cream. 
And further, it is also true that butter made from milk 
cooled with the odor all in, may have a better flavor 
and better keeping quality than some other butter 
made from milk open to the air, but that all m\\k, or 
that milk generally, would make better butter for hav- 
ing the cowy odor retained in it by shutting it from 
the air while cooling, is a proposition which it will be 
hard to make dairymen believe who have been accus- 
tomed to handle all kinds of milk. But as the adage 
runs, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating," 
and if this method, when fairly tried, makes better but- 
ter than by leaving the milk open to the air, the 
proposition of Mr. Hardin must be accepted. That 
his method will make as much as any other is not 
difficult to comprehend, but that it will, as a rule, 
make better butter than setting milk in pure air, such 
as would be supplied by Prof. Wilkinson's sub-earth 
duct, will hardly be credited until it can be shown that 
animal odor is a good thing to have in milk and 
butter. 

Whatever may be the position which the method 
introduced by Mr. Hardin may finally assume in dairy 
practice, he deserves a place in the list of progressive 
dairymen, and is entitled to the thanks of the whole 
dairy public for the extent of discussion and experi- 



262 American Dairying. 

ment which his innovation has provoked, for they 
must, in the end, result in great good, whether his 
system survives or not. 

The experiments thus far made have not been very 
decisive, taken as a whole, having sometimes proved 
better than the open pan system, and sometimes not 
so good. 

Mr. O. C. Blodgett, of Chautauqua, the indefati- 
gable secretary of the Western N. Y. Dairymen's Asso- 
ciation, has adopted a very convenient mode of setting 
milk, which has worked well with him and many 
others in that county. 

He uses shallow pans and sets them in a room above 
ground, spreading the milk so much in warm weather 
that it will not be more than two or two and a half 
inches deep. In cool weather he would increase the 
depth. His theorj' is, that while milk spoils the 
sooner for being warm, the cream also rises faster 
when it is warm, and the thinner it is the sooner the 
cream comes to the surface. Hence by adapting the 
depth to the temperature, and skimming as soon as 
the milk is distinctly sour, whether it be in 12 or 48 
hours, he has succeeded in obtaining very even results 
amid varying temperatures, and producing an excel- 
lent quality of butter. For a short time during the 
largest flow, two pans are used to hold the milk 
of one milking — one twice as large as the other. 
When the milk shrinks to the capacity of the larger 
pan, the smaller one is laid aside till late fall or winter, 
when it takes the place of the larger pan. 

The pans are made of common tin and set on a 
cheap frame at a convenient height for working, and 
are supplied with faucets to run off" sour milk or water 
when washing them. The whole fixtures are inex- 



Butter Making. 26 j 

pensive and labor saving, reducing the dairy work to 
its minimum. These are excellent features and com- 
mend the practice to the attention of dairymen. The 
greatest objection to it is, that only a skillful operator 
can manage it, as the conditions of the milk and cream 
must be all the time varying with the changes of the 
weather. I should fear that nothing short of the 
accomplishments of the distinguished secretary would 
suffice to keep track of the constantly varying condi- 
tions of the milk. It must certainly require more 
skill and judgment than when milk is subject to an 
even temperature. 

The following plan of constructing an ice house 
and dairy was recommended in the IV. Y. Tribune, 
some three years ago, and has been adopted with good 
results. The ice house is attached to the dairy room, 
but is three or four feet higher than the floor of the 
dairy, making a location on an incline desirable. 

The floor of the ice house carries the drip away 
from the dairy, and under it is a chamber into which 
cold air from the ice can fall and be held without 
wasting. The milk room is built with double walls, 
with charcoal, or some non-conductor filled in between 
them, and with double floors and windows. The air 
in a room thus constructed will seldom need any tem- 
pering in the latitude of New York. Whenever it is 
warm enough to require it, a cooling cupboard should 
he made on the side of the dairy-room next to the ice, 
"ust large enough to hold the milk and cream, and be 
:nade as near air tight as possible. The chilled air 
under the ice is admitted to, or shut off" from, this cup- 
board by a valve, as shown in figure 48. The use of 
this cupboard saves cooling the air of a whole room, 
thus economizing the waste of ice to the greatest 



264. 



A merican Dairying. 



extent possible, and saves the labor of handling the 
ice, and at the same time gives the best refrigeration, 
as it is much better to have milk stand in cold air than 
cold water. If it is desired to keep butter in hot 
weather, cold air can be let into a separate apartment 




for that purpose. Any kind of vessel for holding the 
milk can be used, but for the sake of economizing 
space of cupboard, cooler pails or deep and narrow 
pans would be preferred. Vessels broad and deep 
would endanger the safety of the milk by reason of 
the slow cooling by air. 



Butter Factories. 26 j 



BUTTER FACTORIES. 



The butter factory is a modern institution. Tt is an 
establishment for making butter from the milk of 
several herds of cows on an associated plan similar 
to that on which cheese factories are managed. The 
milk is brought to the factory twice a day by the dairy- 
men in tin cans the same as are used for cheese fac- 
tories, and they take back in them the sour milk, which 
is divided according to the milk delivered. When the 
factory is owned by a stock company, the company 
employ hands to manufacture the butter, and generally 
appoint one of their number to superintend the work 
and the division or sale of the butter. Sometimes the 
factory is owned by one man, in which case he makes 
the butter by the pound, at a price agreed upon, which 
is usually four cents a pound, and the butter is divided 
pro rata, or sold and the money divided. The mode 
of treating the milk is not always the same. In the 
earlier butter factories the pail and pool system was 
adopted, in which pails of tin, twenty inches deep and 
eight inches in diameter, were used to set the milk in. 
These were placed in pools of water at sixty degrees 
or below, the temperature of which was kept down by 
cool spring water, admitted through a faucet to each 
pool. The pails were filled just full enough to have 
the milk an inch below the top of the water when the 
pails were set in the pools, otherwise the top of the 



266 American Dairyhig. 

milk would so^ir too soon. The milk was kept stand- 
ing in the pools till it became slightly sour, which 
would be from 48 to 72 hours, according to the cool- 
ness of the water and the weather; the cream was then 
dipped off and churned, and the butter made in the 
usual way, using water, horse, or steam power to do 
the churning. The " pail and pool system " is but 
little used now in factories which make only butter. 
This mode has been succeeded by the use of large pans, 
either deep or shallow, and the factories using them 
deserve a more particular notice. 

In Franklin co., N. Y., butter factories have become 
so popular as to displace nearly all the cheese factories 
within their circuit. The butter from these factories 
has attracted general attention and gained a favorable 
position in the large markets; hence, there is the 
more occasion for inspecting them carefully. They 
are all quite similar in form and size. Compared with 
cheese factories, they are small, and though plain, they 
are veryneat structures. 

Our cuts, figures 49 and 50, represent the West Ban- 
gor Butter Factory, Franklin county, N. Y. It is 50 
feet long — 60 with the porch— by 30 feet wide, with posts 
about 18 feet high. The basement, which constitutes 
the cellar, is laid up with a thick wall of Potsdam 
sandstone. It has an air space in the middle ; and the 
bottom of the cellar is neatly flagged with this sand- 
stone laid in cement. This prevents the development 
of any underground smell, and keeps the temperature 
uniform at about 60°. The air in this cellar, when we 
saw it, was just as pure as that of any upper room. 
The superstructure is of wood, clapboarded on the 
outside, and lathed and plastered within. 

The lower floor contains a milk room, 30x37 feet, a 



Butter Factories. 26 j 

work room, 22x13, and a churn room, 8x13, with an 
engine and wood room attached. The upper story is 
used as a dwelling by the manufacturer. The milk 
room contains twelve large pans, measuring 130 inches 
in length by 51 wide and 7 deep, giving them a 
capacity of 200 gallons, sufficient to hold the milk of 
100 cows for one milking. Through the middle of 
the milk room is a track for a hand-car, and the pans 
are arranged on either side of it, six on a side, 20 
inches apart, with one end butting against the outer 
wall, as seen in the ground plan. ^ Just above the 
ends of the pans, a water pipe, connected with a good 
spring, passes along the wall and supplies water at. 
48°, for cooling the milk. A little below this is a 
waste pipe for carrying away the water, as it is dis- 
charged from the pan. This apparatus, with the 
steam pipes overhead, complete the furniture of the 
room. Nothing else is allowed in it. 

Upon a hand-car which passes through the center 
of the room, is placed a platform scale wnth a weigh- 
ing can on it. The milk is brought to the factory in 
what are called iron-clad cans, and as they arrive are 
elevated by a hoisting crane and dumped into the can 
on the scale. When it is full, the car, with all its 
burden, is rolled along the track between the pans, 
and the milk is spouted into the pans on either side as 
desired. The twelve pans in this factory Avith their 
fixtures, cost $700. An eight horse power boiler sup- 
plies an engine with steam for ch^irning and sawing 
w^ood, &c., and for heating the milk room when neces- 
sary. This, with the churns and butter worker, and 
a few other small things, constitutes the apparatus, 
which, with the factory building, cost $3,800 and is 
sufficient to accommodate the milk of 300 cows. 



'6S 



American Dairyini 




Butter Factories, 



26(^ 



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O O OO 



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1 1 mill! Ml |^~ 



2yo American Dairying. 

As the milk is delivered to the factories, it is dis- 
charged at once into the pans, and as soon as one is 
filled, the water is let on and the milk is cooled down 
to 60° or 62^ As the water which supplies the factory 
is usually at 50° or below, it carries off the heat very 
rapidly, so that the milk is reduced to the desired tem- 
perature in from two to three or four hours. The 
manufacturers all seem to labor under the impression 
that the animal heat (which they confound with animal 
odor) should he got out of the milk in the shortest 
time possible. 

The pan with cold water running under, or around 
the milk, or both, does this to their satisfaction. It is 
a little too efficient, as it enables them to cool the milk 
too rapidly. Except allowing the milk to be brought 
to the factory in closely covered cans, without pre- 
vious airing, this rapid cooling is the first essential 
error, connected with the use of this pan, which attracts 
our attention. It takes from six to twelve hours, at 
ordinary summer temperatures, for the animal odor to 
escape. The objection to sudden cooling is, that it 
condenses the odor and retains it in the milk and 
cream. In nearly every factory that we have inspected, 
where milk was rapidly cooled, we have detected tlie 
cowy flavor in the butter. This not only injures the 
taste of the butter, but very much increases its ten- 
dency to become rancid. Such butter loses its fresh 
flavor so easily that it very soon becomes stale, unless 
kept all the time below 50". Even then it has mucli 
of the animal flavor and soon depreciates. In one 
factory which we visited, the water had become scanty 
and Vv^armed up to 60°. In consequence, it required 
over six hours to reduce the milk to 62°. 'The butter 
made after the water failed was the best in the factory. 



Butter Factories. 2yi 

as the manufacturer could readily see when the fact 
was pointed out. 

The importance of distinguishing between animal 
odor and animal heat, and of getting rid of the odor 
instead of the heat, is a lesson which the butter makers 
of the country generally very much need to learn. 
That the cowy odor in the milk can be condensed and 
retained, becoming a flavor instead of an odor, has been 
too much overlooked. But it is no fault of the large 
or rectangular pan that the cooling is too rapidly 
done. It is only necessary to regulate the supply of 
water to cool in any desired time. 

In these butter factories the Jewett pan is in use, 
and it is made an essential point with the manufac- 
turers to keep the air in the milk room at 70°, while 
the milk in the pans is reduced to 60° or 62°. This 
difference between the surrounding air and the milk, 
has some advantages and some disadvantages. It 
favors the rapid and perfect separation of the cream. 
The cooling in these pans begins at the bottom of the 
pan and works slowly upward, and for some time the 
cream on the surface and top of the milk will be 
warmer than the milk below. As the cream approaches 
the surface and becomes relatively warmer than the 
milk through which it has passed, it expands and 
becomes relatively lighter, thus hastening its ascent, 
and keeping it up when it has reached the surface. 
The rising of the cream is very rapid in these pans. 
It was apparently all up in 24 hours. 

In the factories where the air was 10° warmer than 
the milk, it was very plain to be seen that the cream 
being exposed to a higher temperature than the under 
side of it, grew thick, sour, and stale, while the under 
side of it was yet sweet and thin, After bcin<T 



2^2 Aniei'ican Dairying. 

skimmed and kept in large cream pails, 12 to 24 hours, 
it would assume a more uniform condition, but it was 
quite apparent that less difference between the tem- 
perature of the milk and surrounding air would make 
an improvement in the quality of the butter. 

The rule for skimming is determined by the thick- 
ness of the cream. When the underside of it gets so 
thick that it will not close over the space made by 
passing the finger, it is considered fit to skim. It will 
then not run through the skimmer. If the milk is 
kept at 62' it gets thick in 36 hours, if the air in the 
room is 70°. If the milk is kept at 60°, the cream will 
require 48 hours to become thick. This rule, so 
general in these factories, would not apply where the 
milk is set in deep pails, as the bottom would not 
become thick before the top would spoil, nor would it 
apply where the milk and the air in the room were 
of the same temperature. 

Another point in the Franklin county factories, is 
to take off the cream with the smallest possible amount 
of milk. This is done to save labor in churning, 
which it certainly does, but it occasions a loss in the 
quantity of butter, and also in quality. The upper 
part of the milk, especially where, as in the Jewett 
pans, it is five or six inches deep, usually contains 
butter enough to pay the extra labor of churning, 
especially where the churning is done by power. It 
pays to churn one-quarter of the bulk of the milk. 
Some have the impression that the more milk there is 
churned with the cream, the more cheesy matter there 
will be in the butter. But this is not so, because 
where the whole milk is churned there is no more 
cheesy flavor than when the cream only is churned, 
and w^here there is a considerable quantity of liquid 



Butter Factories. 2jj 

in the churn, the butter, when it comes, is not so much 
affected by the friction of the churning as when there 
is but little liquid, for then the churn crowds more 
upon the butter and injures the grain. 

The skimming is done night and morning, and the 
cream put into large tin pails, in which it stands until 
ready to churn. This is done just before the milk 
comes in to make room for the new milk. As soon 
as the cream is taken off the sour milk is drained off 
through a tin pipe into the sour milk tank, by simply 
pulling a plug which stops a hole in the bottom of the 
pan. This is the only labor required for disposing of 
the sour milk. The milk of loo cows is put in one 
pan, and in a factory of 300 cows, three pans are filled 
each night and morning, and of course there are three 
such pans to skim and wash every night and morning. 
I noted the time it took two women to skim, run off 
the milk, wash and .scald these three large pans in one 
of the factories, getting them ready for receiving milk 
again, and they did it easily in forty-five minutes. 
This is a very great reduction of labor over any other 
method of setting milk. 

I cannot do better than to quote from the address 
of Mr. L. D. Paddock, of Malone, delivered before the 
American Dairymen's Association at Rome, Jan., 1876, 
to give the details of managing the cream, churning, 
washing, working, salting, and packing butter in the 
Franklin butter factories. His practice accords well 
with what I saw in visiting several of them : 

"The milk is allowed to stand thirty-six. hours, unless it is 
ready to be skimmefd before that time. It must be skimmed at 
just the right time, and that is, as a general rule, as soon as it 
becomes sour. It is sometimes the case that the cream cannot be 
removed at that time without loss. In that case, you must wait 
until the milk thickens. In taking off the cream we use a large 



2^^ American Dairying. 

skimmer about eight by ten inches square, with a handle, and a 
low, broad, four-quart pan or dipper with a handle.' This rests on 
the edge of the pan, and when full is emptied into tin pails holding 
about four gallons, and the cream is then carried into the cellar 
and set in a vat of cold water, where it is kept at the right tem- 
perature by means of ice put into the water from time to time as 
occasion requires. This is in case your cellar is not cool enough. 
The sour milk is emptied from the pans through pipes leading to 
the outside of the building into a large vat, from which it is taken 
away by the patrons. Cream taken off to-day, for instance, is 
churned to-morrow morning. We use two sixty gallon barrel 
churns, and put about twenty gallons of cream into each churn. 
If you ge't in too much, it takes a long time for the butter to come. 
The churns are run at the rate of about thirty revolutions a minute. 
We start the churning early in the morning, when it is cool, and 
before the milk begins to arrive. It usually takes about an hour 
to do the churning, but sometimes longer. As soon as the butter 
is come in a granulated state, we stop churning, and draw off the 
buttermilk through a sieve, so as not to waste any butter, then 
pour two or three pailfuls of water into the churn, and give it a 
few revolutions with the hand so as to rinse it well, then draw off 
as before, and repeat the operation until the buttermilk is well 
rinsed out of the butter. The butter is then taken from the churn 
and put into large, round, wooden trays, and carried into the cel- 
lar, where it is weighed and then spread but thin on the butter 
worker, and salted at the rate of one ounce to the pound — unless 
otherwise ordered. Some of our customers want but half an 
ounce to the pound, and some more than an ounce. We use 
either the best Onondaga factory filled dairy salt, or the Ashton. 
Most of the factories I believe work their butter but once and pack 
as soon as they think it worked enough. At our factory the but- 
ter is all worked twice. The first time just enough to work the 
salt in well. It is then put back into the trays, covered with a 
clean cloth, and set away until the next morning, when it is 
worked again, taking care not to let your lever slip or slide on the 
butter, or to in any way injure the grain of it. ^ Then, as soon as we 
think the buttermilk all out, it is packed. We generally pack in 
sixty.pound packages, and the very best that can be obtained. It 
is then covered with a cloth, and that is covered with salt about 
half an inch in thickness. If the butter is to be kept long, the 



Butter Factories. 2y^ 

salt should be moistened just enough to make. a paste, and then 
pressed down tight all around. Put on a tight fitting cover, and 
your butter is ready for market, 

"It usually takes, on an average, about twenty-three pounds of 
milk for a pound of butter. That depends, however, very much 
on whether you are able to control the temperature of your milk. 
Then your feed has something to do with the quantity of the milk. 
Some seasons it takes more pounds of milk for a pound of butter 
than others." 

There are now between twenty and thirty of these 
factories in operation in the vicinity of Malone, the 
county seat of Franklin county. They have proved a 
success in many respects. I visited several of them 
in September, 1873, and though the butter in all was 
good, it is but justice to truth and my readers to say, 
that none of it was "gilt edged." 

Some of the little defects which have prevented their 
reaching the very highest standard have already been 
pointed out. One of them was cooling the milk before 
the animal odor could escape, tlius condensing it in 
the milk, whence it mingled with the butter, giving it 
a peculiar stale flavor and hurrying it on to rancidity. 
Another defect related to the packing. First, it was 
nearly all packed with once working, which gave to 
the texture a lack of solidity. Second, it was nearly 
all packed in spruce tubs, which were imperfectly pre- 
pared. Instead of removing the sap and filling the 
pores of the wood by soaking with boiling hot brine, 
they were soaked either with water or cold brine, 
which left so much sap in the Xvood that the butter 
next to the wood soon became affected. The covers 
of the tubs were not cleansed at all, and being gener- 
ally made of basswood, soon imparted their odor to 
the top of the butter. This defect was very distinct. 
I detected the scent of the basswood, in one instance, 



2y6 American Dairying. 

in the top of a tub of butter which had been covered 
but a few hours. Basswood is entirely unfit for use 
about butter. 

A difference of ten degrees between the air in a 
room and that of milk standing in it, the milk being 
60° and the air 70°, is regarded as quite unfavorably 
for producing the finest quality of butter from such 
milk, or for securing its greatest longevity. This may 
require a little explanation. For well known reasons, 
a pitcher of ice w^ater in a hot day condenses water 
upon its outside, and because the water inside of it is as 
cold as the outside of the pitcher, the condensation 
is as rapid on the surface of the water within it, as 
upon the outside, though we do not see it because 
it mingles at once with the water. A vessel con- 
taining milk much colder than the air in which it 
stands, also condenses water upon its sides, and like- 
wise upon the surface of the milk or cream in it. We 
often see this in butter factories and creameries. The 
vessels containing the cold milk are seen dripping 
with condensations ; and that they condense equally 
upon the creani is evidenced by the fact that the top 
of the cream is kept moist and soft not only, but often 
when the cream becomes thick, it is covered with a 
coat of water, giving its surface a glossy appearance. 

When the atmosphere gives up its moisture to the 
sides of a pitcher, or to the cold water within it, it gives 
up also its impurities —its foul gases, odors and organic 
germs. It does this to such an extent as to affect the. 
taste and wholesomeness of the water in the pitcher in a 
few hours. Every one who has tasted ice water when 
it has become warm, will remember how disagreeable it 
tastes. The water which condenses on the cream is 
loaded with impurities, and affects it the same as the 



Butter Factories. ^77 

water in the pitcher, injuring the flavor and the keep- 
ing quality of the butter made from it. 

Dairymen often notice this moisture on their cream 
and think it a fortunate circumstance, because it keeps 
the top of the cream from drying up, and makes it 
soft. No mistake could be greater. The impurities 
which attach to the cream from water thus condensed 
upon it, are fatal to its well being. A piece of meat 
chilled with ice while exposed to warm air, gathers 
moisture by condensation, the same as the sides of a 
cold pitcher, and as it does so, the microscopic germs 
deposited with the moisture from the air, fasten upon 
it in such numbers as to ensure its speedy decay. 
Meat thus treated cannot be preserved wnthout heating 
it hot enough to kill the germs which occasion the 
infection. Salt will not save it. So with butter made 
from cream infected by atmospheric condensations. 
The minute germs which lodge upon the cream fasten 
to it, and become mingled with the butter made from 
it and ensure premature decay, no matter how skill- 
fully it may be treated in other respects. 

Another circumstance operated unfavorably upon 
the flavor of the butter where it had stood long in the 
cellars. Allusion is made to the practice of covering 
the top of the butter with a cloth and dry salt. This 
was very much better than not to cover it with any- 
thing. But to prevent butter from growing stale by 
standing it should be kept from contact with the 
air. Water enough turned on to the salt to make a 
brine that would fairly cover the surface of the butter 
would have done this and kept the top of the butter 
sound. 

These little defects are not noticed with any desire 
to criticise or find fault with this new system of butter 



2^8 American Dairying. 

making. They are pointed out to prevent others from 
falling into tlie same errors, and with the hope that 
they will be obviated in the factories where they were 
noticed. 

The large pan system has proved one of great advan- 
tage to the location it occupies, and its influence is by 
no means confined to Franklin county. It has reduced 
the quantity of milk required to make a pound of 
butter to a lower figure than any other. The great 
bulk of the milk which is there couA^erted into butter 
is from native stock, and the average amount for the 
time the factories run, which is four or five months in 
the middle of the season, when milk is the poorest, is 
only about twenty-three pounds. Jersey milk might 
require less. But I have met with no instance where, on 
so large a scale and for so long a time, an equal result 
has been reached. The butter, if not the very finest 
quality that it is possible to make, is certainly excellent, 
and commands a high price and ready sale in the large 
markets of the country, running from five to ten cents 
above the average of dairy butter. The system of 
factory butter making with the use of large pans, is 
yet in its infancy, and great advances may safely be 
predicted of it as time goes along. One of the good 
things it has accomplished is to economize labor in the 
manufacture of butter, 'and to lift a heavy burden from 
the women folk in the dairy districts. It is worthy of 
adoption for this alone ; but besides this, it pays. The 
quantity of milk for a pound of butter, and the cost of 
manufacture, have been so much reduced as to turn 
the milk to greater profit than when converted into 
cheese. 

Butter factories, as a rule, make better butter than the 
average private dairies, but they are not yet so far per- 



Creameries. zyg 

fected as to equal the best private make. Their goods 
will not keep as well, nor are they so fine, in any of 
the associated dairies I have seen, as those met with, 
in private establishments. There are some obvious 
reasons for this failure in factories to reach the highest 
attainable perfection. First, the milk, as now usually 
conveyed, can hardly be transported the distance 
generally necessary to reach a factory, without injuring 
it somewhat for butter making. Second, the mass of 
milk being made up of different dairies that are liable 
to differ in quality, some of them \\\\\ not be as good 
as the best ; and, third, it is doubtful whether the com- 
bination of circumstances at any butter factory are yet 
quite equal to the best private dairies, though the 
average of the former is very much above the average 
of the latter. 



CREAMERIES. 



Butter factories and creameries differ in this : the 
former make only butter ; the latter both butter and 
cheese. The buildings and apparatus for the two 
purposes are necessarily different. In creameries, the 
apparatus for butter making and cheese making must 
be combined. 

Creameries are carried on with two distinct pur- 
poses, or modes of operating. The design of one class 
of creameries is to take off all the cream that can 
be obtained without actually souring the milk, and 



28o 



A merican Dairymg, 




Pi 
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Creameries, 



281 




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282 American Dairying. 

making from the stale milk an inferior quality of skim 
cheese, wilh the hope of getting better returns than 
from feeding it to calves or pigs. In the other class 
of creameries, the purpose is to take off no more 
cream than Avill allow of making a good or at least a 
fair article of cheese from the skim milk. 

Creameries are constructed in a great variety of 
forms, which are made to vary according to the par- 
ticular location and the fancy or different purposes of 
the builders. Perhaps no single plan, however well 
arranged, would be best under all circumstances. Yet 
there. are certain requirements which run through 
them all, and which may be described in general 
terms, and contained in one comprehensive structure. 

Most of the creameries are conducted on the " pail 
and pool" system. The following plans are adapted 
to this mode of raising cream. The system, however, 
must soon give way to the better and more labor- 
saving practice of setting milk in large pans, elevated 
so as to spout the milk into the manufacturing vats 
without handling, or to the still more economical mode 
of setting the milk in the manufacturing vats them- 
selves, thus saving all handling. 

The first plan (figurps 51 and 52) is that known as 
the Elm Tree Creamery, located at Triangle, N. Y. It 
is 28x94 feet, two stories high, and eight feet between 
floors. 

On the ground floor the letters indicate as follows : 

A, Manufacturing room, 28x28 feet ; B, Curing room, 32x28 
feet; C, Pool room, 16x18 feet ; D, Kitchen, 16x11 feet; E, Sit- 
ting room, 15x14 feet ; F, Engine room, 10x10 ; G, Bedroom, 10x7 ; 
H, Pantry, 6x7. 

Second floor — V, Curing room, 28x76 feet ; R, Bedroom, 7x13 ; 
G, Bedroom, 11x13 ; C, Bedroom, 11x12 \ E, Stairway. 



Creameries. 



283 



The second plan (fig. 53) is that of the Harrison 
Creamery, located at Smith- 
ville, N. Y. It has the- same 
width as the previous one? 
but is ten feet shorter, be- 
ing 28x84 fiset, and the size 
and location of the rooms are 
a little changed. Both are 
calculated for the family of 
the manufacturer to liv^e in 
one end of the creamery 
The second story is similar 
to that in the first plan, 12 
feet of one end being occu- 
pied with bedrooms, and the 
remainder as a curing room 
which is 72x28 feet. 

Each of these creamer- 
ies has, as every creamery 
should, a good cellar beneath 
it for storing butter, and each 
has an eight -horse po^\er 
boiler and a small engine 
for churning and doing other 
work, things very necessary 
in equipping a creamery. 
Unless supplied with a plen- 
ty of cold spring water, an 
ice house is also a neces- 



a 


F 


E 




.%M^. 


R 




D 


A 

J 




C 



''i^- 53- 
A, Kitchen, 14x15 feet ; B, Pan- 



•sary appendage to a good gy'sfrjng'Ln^; f/x^^^^^^ 
creamery. As there must f;-—, fj-^i^^^^^^^^^ 

always be a constant waste ^^«* ' H, Manufacturing room. 

of water running away from a creamery, and more or 
Jess wash and dirty water to be disposed of, a high 



284. American Dairying, 

and dry location, which will afford pure air and good 
drainage, should always be selected, if possible. It is 
very essential to the production of first class butter 
that the air in and about the buildings should be dry 
and free from every taint or musty smell. The build- 
ing for a creamery need not necessarily be ornamen- 
tal, though a tasty neatness should always enter into 
its structure, but it should be substantial and secure 
against the fluctuations of outside temperature. 

The mode of building adopted in the butter factory 
just described is a good one, and in the end, as cheap as 
any. The walls should at any rate be double. When 
coolers are used, the pools to set them in are generally 
made of plank, and sometimes of cement; but, what- 
ever they are made of, they should be set high enough 
so that the water can be drained from them at any time 
desired, and should consist of four or five, the latter 
number is preferred, separate apartments. When 
made of wood, the plank are liable to get slimy and 
the top musty, and require that the water should be 
drawn off and the vat scrubbed with something like a 
splint or wire broom, and then rinsed with boiling 
water or scalded with a jet of steam. Everything 
about the pools must be kept perfectly fresh and sweet, 
or the butter will imbibe the scent, if any is allowed to 
exist. 

An incident, which occurred in one of the very best 
creameries, will illustrate: The water. in the pool 
where the cream was kept, and which was alternately 
warmed and cooled to temper the cream, was allowed 
on one occasion to remain unchanged until it began 
to smell a little old; it was but a slight change from 
its fresh state, but all the butter that was made from 
the cream standing in the water at the time, assumed 



Creameries. 28^ 

the same smell and taste, and became permanently 
injured. Cleansing the pool removed the difficulty. 

The pool is divided into a number of apartments, so 
that there may be one for holding cream, which can 
have its temperature raised or lowered at pleasure, to 
keep the cream cold when there is occasion to keep it, 
or to warm it to temper it for churning, and others so 
that each mess may be set in a separate apartment. 
This is necessary to avoid warming up the water and 
milk by the introduction of a warm mess into an 
apartment with one already cooled, which would have 
an injurious effect on the latter. By having four or 
five apartments in the pool for milk, each mess is set 
by itself, and remains undisturbed in temperature until 
ready to skim. 

The cooling may be more or less rapid, as may be 
desired, according to the volume of the stream of cold 
water running into the apartment of the pool in which 
the warm milk is set. If a small stream of water is 
let in, the warmed water will be very gradually dis- 
placed and the cooling slowly done. The process is 
hastened by admitting a larger stream. 

The effects which follow the fast and slow cooling 
are unlike. ' The milk will keep sweet longer with the 
rapid cooling, but the cream will rise more perfectly, 
and the butter has been found to be better, when the 
cooling is done more slowly. The deep cans, nineteen 
inches high and about eight inches in diameter, before 
described, are used for setting milk. 

The practice at one of the best creameries I know of 
is as follows : The milk upon arrival is weighed and 
emptied into a receiving vat. A compartment of the 
pool is filled with fresh water, which is at 50°. Coolers 
are filled from the receiving vat as milk arrives, and 



2 86 American Dairying. 

placed in the pool. Water enough is turned on to cool 
the milk down to 60° in ten to twelve hours. In warm 
weather, it is skimmed after standing thirty-six and 
forty-eight hours. The cream, in coolers, is set in a 
pool at 65°, where it stands twelve hours and becomes 
slightly sour. It is then churned in one and a half 
barrel dash churns, worked by steam. In some fac- 
tories, a cream vat is used. It is constructed on the 
same principle as the common cheese vat, and is 
designed as a storage for cream, in which it can be 
thoroughly mixed and warmed or cooled, as desired, 
by steam or water connections. 

The skimming in this creamery is the same as in all 
others when coolers are used. It is done by removing 
the cream with a conical cup, made of tin, with the 
pointed end down, and used with a perpendicular han- 
dle. When the milk is ready to skim, the pointed end 
of the cup is pressed dowm into the cooler until the 
cream, which is always sufficiently soft to flow, will run 
over the top of the cup and fill it. It is then lifted out 
and emptied, and the process repeated until the cream 
is all dipped off. As the milk and cream rise in the 
cooler, when the conical cup is pressed down into it, 
they become somewhat mixed, and a perfect separation 
of the cream is not made without taking in consider- 
able milk. 

In churning, in the creamery referred to, as much 
cream is put into each churn as can be, and allow the 
dash, in its upward stroke, to rise above it. The 
dashers are made large, so as to nearly fill the churn 
at the top and bottom ; and their motion is at first 
slow, about twenty strokes per minute, until the cream 
is well mixed, when the motion is increased to 45 or 
50 strokes. The temperature observed in churning is 



Creameries. 2^y 

58° to 60°, the cream being cooled down before it is 
removed from the pool. When the butter begins to 
come, the motion is again retarded, and cold water 
enough is put in to make the contents of the churn 
rise a little above the dash, in its upward motion, 
and reduce the temperature below 58°. The butter 
comes in a granulated form. The buttermilk is all 
washed'out of the butter, and it receives no working, 
except to press it together, after the salthas been mixed 
with the granules. It is generally gathered in the churn 
in a mass, and washed and worked in the usual way. 

In this creamery, through all the warm weather, the 
milk stands 36-and 48 hours before skimming. The 
milk is then sweet and is made into skim cheese. The 
cream is soured a little before churning, and the but- 
termilk of course goes out with the whey, which is 
fed to pigs and calves. 

It is the general practice in creameries which use 
cooler pails and pools, to get all the butter that can 
be obtained from the milk and keep it sweet for cheese 
making. Some churn the cream while sweet, and put 
the buttermilk in with the skimmilk to make into 
cheese, others sour it and think the increased quantity 
of butter they get by souring the cream pays better 
than the buttermilk does in cheese. In the Speedsville 
creamery, it was recently found, by repeated trials, that 
when the cream was churned sweet it took 38 pounds 
of milk for a pound of butter, and when churned sour 
it required but 28 pounds for one of butter. This rate 
is a good expression of the difference in results of 
churning sweet or sour, the cream from the milk of 
Native, Shorthorn or Ayrshire cows. 

Some set the milk 24 and T^d hours in hot weather, 
and occasionally it is set 12 and 24 hours, but the 



2 S3 A^nerican Dairying. 

great majority set '^,6 and 48 in summer, and 48 and 60 
in cool weather. It is the general practice in cream- 
eries to pack in return pails or tubs for immediate 
market, till the cows become fully accustomed to grass, 
and after that to pack in firkins for the fall market. 
But sometimes it is sent off every week all the season. 
In these days of close figures upon dairy products, 
when the cost of production and manufacture run so 
nearly parallel to the w^holesale price, economy at 
every point must be observed. The labor of an extra 
hand in a factory may decide the question whether it 
shall be run or closed up. Economy of labor in man- 
ufacturing is the most prominent item in the difference 
between making the milk into butter or cheese at the 
farm, or in factories. For this purpose, the use of 
large pans, or more properly vats, for setting milk in 
creamery practice, has of late, been availed of with 
good effect. In the economy of labor they sustain 
about the same relation to cooler pails, that the pails 
do to the small round pans. The vats are made large 
enough to hold one milking of 100 cows or more, and 
are elevated so that the skimmilk can be spouted to 
the manufacturing vats. The labor saved by this 
method of setting is very great. The skimming and 
washing of the vats for a given quantity of milk is 
estimated at one-eighth that required for coolers, and 
the ratio of labor between handling the coolers and 
carrying and turning them into the manufacturing 
vats by hand, and spouting the milk in, is about as 
twenty to one. A very great amount of labor is also 
saved by spouting milk from the receiving can to the 
setting vats, in place of filling coolers and setting 
them one by one in the pool. In this improvement, 
the American Dairy and Commercial Company have 



Creameries. 28Q 

taken the lead. Their creamery at Mill Ridge, Oneida 
county, N. Y., was arranged last year for the use of 
cooling vats, which worked so well, that they have 
this year been introduced in several other factories 
belonging to the company. 

In the Mill Ridge creamery the floor of the setting 
room, which is adjacent to the manufacturing room, is 
raised above the latter, and vats similar to manufac- 
turing vats are used for setting the milk. The differ- 
ence in the height of the floors is sufficient to carry 
the milk from one set of vats to the other. In their 
creamery at McLean, Tompkins county, N. Y., one of 
the best conducted creameries in the United States, 
the manufacturing and setting rooms are on the same 
floor. The milk is set in large Jewett pans, which are 
elevated high enough to admit of running milk from 
them to the manufacturing vats, which are set as low as 
they will bear for that purpose. The process at this 
creamery is very satisfactory, and the butter turned 
out is of very fine quality, and sells at the very top 
of quotations. From the early grass- fed milk of the 
present season, one pound of butter was made from 
27 pounds of milk, and a little later, one pound from 
26 of milk. The cream is churned sour. In other 
factories, other styles of large pans are being used in 
the place of coolers with a degree of satisfaction 
which indicates that the latter must soon give place to 
the labor-saving apparatus. Messrs. Whitman & Bur- 
rell, of Little Falls, N. Y., in, their Fink's Basin 
creamery, economize still further, by using the manu- 
facturing vats for setting milk. The new milk, as 
received each night and morning, is run directly from 
the weighing can into a vat, and after being heated to 
135* by turning a jet of steam directly into the milk, 



2^0 American Dairying. 

it is cooled down by passing cold spring water through 
a coil of tin pipe suspended in the milk just below the 
depth expected to be occupied by the cream. When 
the milk has fallen to the temperature of the room or 
a little below, so that evaporation is checked and the 
gas and odor has escaped, a close fitting cover, vir- 
tually air tight, is set down upon the vat, and the cool- 
ing goes on till the milk drops to the temperature of 
the water passing through the coil, which is below 50°. 
The cover, which is inexpensive, serves the double 
purpose of economizing the refrigerating agent, and 
protecting the milk from any contamination while a 
vatful is being made into cheese by the side of it. In 
a recent examination, the cream as compared with 
that raised in open vats was superior. Its flavor was 
remarkably pure, sweet and delicious, and was entirely 
free from the slightly bitter taste which the top of 
cream acquires by being exposed to the air. The but- 
ter it made was strictly gilt edged, and sold, when sent 
to New York in return pails, for 30 cents, when Or- 
ange county was quoted at 25 cents. The cream was 
churned sweet, and three pounds of butter made from 
100 pounds of milk, and the buttermilk used with the 
skimmilk in making cheese on the Ellsworth plan. 
The churning was done with a Blanchard churn, and 
the butter gathered in the granular form. I note this 
fact because some butter makers have supposed that 
butter could not be granulated in that churn. 

In the new creamej^y practice adopted by J. T. Ells- 
worth, of Barre, Mass., the milk is received into large 
pans of the variety known as the Empire State pan. 
By the aid of a heater in an adjacent room and a coil 
of pipe, hot water is run under the milk and kept cir- 
culating till the milk is raised to 130 to 140 degrees. 



I 



Creameries. 2gt 

The hot water is then changed for cold, and kept run- 
ning till the milk is reduced to 65° and then left for the 
cream to rise. As the milk is to be made into cheese, 
it is skimmed and churned while sweet, the butter 
gathered in the granular form and otherwise treated 
in the usual way. It has proved to be very uniform 
and very nice, having sold the year round for 45 cents 
a pound in the city of Worcester. I have examined 
Mr. Ellsworth's butter, and found it to have a remark- 
ably pure and clean flavor, and to be in every respect 
very fine. 

WINTER BUTTER MAKING. 

Within a few years past, a practice of making butter 
in the winter instead of summer has been gaining 
ground. This is more especially true in some of the 
western states. The cows come in during the fall 
months, so as to be freshly in milk through the winter, 
and go dry during the heat and drought of the summer. 
Cows in milk cannot stand the cold as well as when 
dry, and therefore need very comfortable quarters, but 
it is easier to protect them against the cold of winter, 
than against the heat and drought and flies of summer. 
The store of winter food must be adapted to the situa- 
tion. Stale fodder, such as late cut hay and ripe corn- 
stalks, will not answer. The food for profitable win- 
ter dairying must be early cut, of whatever kind it 
may be — grass, clover, fodder corn, millet, oats, oats 
and pease — if cut not later than in blossom, produce 
nice milk and a very liberal flow. In winter dairying, 
grain can be fed to better advantage than when the 
cows are on grass, and roots can be made very ser- 
viceable. 



2g^ American Dairying. 

The yield of milk will not be quite as large in the 
winter as in the summer, but it will be richer, making 
the annual yield of butter just about the same in one 
case as the other. 

If proper provision is made for taking care of the 
stock and the milk, it is just as easy to make butter 
in the winter as in the summer, and in fact, it is less 
difficult to maintain a proper temperature in the dairy 
in the winter than in the summer, and it has the 
advantage of furnishing fresh butter at a time when it 
usually brings the highest price. Cows for winter use 
are generally dried off about the first of July, so as to 
go dry in July and August. But few dairymen in any 
part of the country follow this practice wholly, but 
spread the time of manufacturing over the whole year, 
and have cows coming in during the fall, winter and 
spring. Often only one-third of the butter product 
of the 3^ear is made in the winter season. The practice 
is better adapted to warm climates than cold ones, and 
better in localities subject tcf drought and scanty water 
in summer than in those which are not. 

WHEY BUTTER. 

A few years ago, considerable quantities of whey 
butter were made, and often formed no inconsiderable 
item in the revenues of the factory. Latterly, the 
more careful and improved methods of working, and 
the largely increased practice of skimming, have very 
much reduced the production of whey butter. But it 
is still made in some localities, and a few words in 
regard to its manufacture may be appropriate. 

Two methods are adopted in raising the cream. One 
is to have vats^ similar to manufacturing vats, to set 



Creameries. 2pj 

the whey in. These are placed lower than the manu- 
facturing vats, so that the whey will run from one to 
the other, to save carrying. It is run off as early as 
practicable, to prevent its becoming too sour, and 
cooled as quickly as possible down to 60% and left 
standing about twenty hours for the cream to rise. It 
is then skimmed with a tin scoop, as it is apt to be too 
thin to be taken off perfectly with a skimmer. The 
treatment of the cream, the churning and management 
of the butter, are the same as in making butter directly 
from milk. The whey from 600 gallons of milk yields 
from two to four pounds of butter, which has a strong 
flavor and a greasy appearance. It has generally sold 
for about two-thirds as much as fine butter from milk, 
and is generally used for cooking. 

In the other method of raising the cream, the whey 
is run into vats, the same as in the first instance, and 
instead of cooling, heating the whey to 170°. The 
cream rises rapidly and is at once taken off and cared 
for', and made into butter in the usual way. The yield 
of butter by the two modes is about equal, but the 
butter from the heated whey is much the best. 



2^/f. American Dairying, 



PRINCIPLES IN CHEESE MAKING. 



In butter making, we only make use of the fats in 
the milk. In cheese making, we add to the fats its 
caseine. The elements of butter are already in a con- 
dition suitable for food or preservation. The caseine 
is not. A part of the water and sugar combined with 
it in the milk, must be separated to secure even a tem- 
porary preservation. In effecting this, we convert the 
caseine into curd, which is insoluble in water, and 
until it undergoes further change to render it soluble 
again, is indigestible. See Appendix {a.) 

There are two distinct purposes to be kept in view 
in cheese making. The first is to expel the whey, 
which contains water, sugar, albumen and mineral 
matter. This is done by treatment in the vat. The 
second is to render the caseine soluble by converting 
it into cheese. This is done principally by the action 
of rennet. 

CHARACTER OF RENNET ACTION. 

The process of cheese making is essentially one of 
digestion, resulting from the action of gastric juice 
derived from the stomach of the calf by steeping it. The 
prominent part which digestion plays in cheese manu- 
facture, first impressed upon the attention of dairy- 



Cheese Making, 2gs 

men by Mr. A. Holdridge, of West Burlington, N. Y., 
embodies the fundamental principles of all successful 
cheese making. The coagulation of milk with rennet 
is the beginning of the digestive process, and the con- 
version of the curd into cheese is due to the further 
action of the rennet enclosed in the coagulum formed 
by itself. 

Milk may be coagulated by other agents than ren- 
net. Alum, alc'ohol and various acids will accomplish 
that end, but they fail in the further effect of convert- 
ing curd into cheese. It is for this reason that no sub- 
stitute has been found which could successfully take 
the place of rennet in cheese making. 

The changes which are wrought upon milk in 
making cheese are similar to those which occur in 
the stomach of a calf in digesting a meal of milk. 
In the stomach, the milk is first curdled and the whey 
separated; then the curd, which is first formed into 
hard lumps, becomes softened on the outside, and 
takes on the cheesy flavor and odor which we get in 
the curing room, and a similar texture, becoming 
friable and tender, and then gradually dissolves into a 
liquid, when it is ready for assimilation. 

In making cheese with rennet, we do the same thing, 
only the process is slower and less perfectly performed. 
We use but a small amount of gastric juice to begin 
with — only about toit part as much as the calf, and we 
work with less warmth. Nor do we intend to digest 
the curd until it dissolves. We prefer to stop it just 
before it is ready to dissolve. In this stage, if all con- 
ditions have been right, it becomes a very desirable 
food — a fancy cheese. When curd is thus digested 
to the verge of solution, it is an easy matter for the 
human stomach to finish the digestion, 



2(^6 American Dairying. 

The steepings of rennets contain minute globular 
bodies. Viewed with a microscope, the liquid in 
which they are soaked appears full of them. We have 
found by actual count over i,ooo of them in one-five 
hundredth part of a drop taken from a gallon of water 
in which a single rennet had been soaked. At this rate, 
a good rennet would contain some 200,000,000,000 of 
them. These minute bodies are living germs that 
grow and multiply, making the liquid *rennet a sea of 
vegetable life. They constitute the active agency in 
rennet, as we have* proved by finding the strength of 
liquid rennet to correspond with the number and size 
of germs it contains ; and, second, by filtering them out 
of the liquid, when the soakings, which w^ere before 
powerful, became entirely inert. The writer has 
repeated these experiments so often and so successfully, 
as to leave no doubt as to the connection of these 
minute atoms with the active agency of rennet. These 
germs are the spores or seeds of a variety of blue 
mould, and are susceptible under favorable circum- 
stances of a wonderfully rapid multiplication. Com- 
mon yeast is full of analagous germs, and its efficiency 
depends upon them. It is from their remarkably 
rapid increase that a "little leaven leavens the whole 
lump.^' All yeast has a similar dependence. 

The active agency in rennet, being also dependent 
upon such germs, may be multiplied and carried from 
batch to batch, the same as the leaven in panary fer- 
mentation, and is therefore a true yeast, and should be 
regarded as such in the principles of cheese making. 

EFFECT OF HEAT IN CHEESE MAKING. 

Though but a short time is required for a certain 
quantity of rennet to curdle a vat full of milk, to 



t Cheese Making. 2gy 

effect a perfect coagulation is a work of considerable 
time, and the separation of the whey goes on slowly. 
Dairymen are in the habit of applying rennet to milk 
at 8o' to 84°, and at this temperature the digestion 
goes on tardily. As the warmth rises toward blood 
heat, the work moves much faster. To continue the 
contents of the vat at 84°, would require a very long 
time to advance the curd to the stage necessary to 
place it in the press and the curing room. To hasten 
the process and shorten the time of working, heat is 
applied and the temperature of the mass raised to 
blood heat. In doing this, skill is required. It is 
necessary that the whole mass should be heated evenly, 
or some parts will be advanced more than others, to 
the detriment of the cheese. To apply warmth evenly, 
the curd must be cut in fine pieces and the mass con- 
stantly stirred, and the heating must be gradual. All 
this requires work, time and waste, but with our pres- 
ent notions of cheese making it must be done. We 
could not complete a batch of cheese in a day at 84°, 
and hence we must Jiurry the operations by heating. 
As the heating of the curd, after it is formed, is done 
solely for hastening the action of the rennet, in effect- 
ing a separation of the whey and ripening the curd, it 
would seem much more philosophical to apply the ren- 
net to the milk at a higher temperature, which could 
be quickly reached without detriment to the milk, and 
thus save the trouble and waste occasioned by cutting 
and stirring, and the loss of time by heating the curd 
slowly. It is certainly very important that the con- 
tents of the vat should not be allowed to cool while 
waiting for the curd to form and the whey to separate. 
But in this respect the practices of dairymen are not 
very philosophical. It is common for the whey and 



2()S American Dairying. 

curd to fall several degrees in cool weather while the 
curd is hardening. This should be carefully guarded 
against by covering the top of the vat. A few do this. 

Mr. A. B. Armstrong, of Dorset, Vt., has devised a 
plan for conveniently raising and lowering a cover to 
a large vat, so that it can quickly be hoisted up out of 
the way when it is necessary to work the curd, and be 
let down again at once, and cover the vat tightly when 
the curd is not being worked. An illustration of the 
vat and cover is given on the next page. 

In the heating arrangement attached to this vat, Mr. 
Armstrong has provided for maintaining a uniform 
temperature in the curd for the whole time necessary 
for it to remain in the vat. The envelope to the vat, 
with a sheet iron bottom fitted on water tight, is set 
on a brick arch, and has a tight cast iron fire box at 
one end. The heat and smoke go under the whole 
length of the sheet iron bottom, and then up and out 
through a pipe. A sheet iron apron is placed a few 
inches below the bottom of the envelope, to shield it 
from the direct contact of the fire. Ashes are sifted 
over the apron, thickly toward the fire box and thinly 
toward the other end, to equalize and temper the heat. 
The contents of the milk vat are warmed by warming 
water in the envelope; and a fire sufficient to warm the 
milk to the desired degree for setting, will so warm 
the brick arch and apron and ashes upon it, that when 
the firebox is closed and the draught stopped, the con- 
tents of the vat, if closely covered, will retain an even 
temperature from six to ten hours, long enough to 
manufacture cheese, without change of temperature. 
Experiments have been made in this vat, under the 
inspection of the writer, in which the milk and curds 
in the vat, after being warmed up to 94° for setting, 



Cheese Making, 



299 



remained in one case six hours and twenty-five min- 
utes, and in another, seven hours and thirty minutes 




Fig- 54. 



without a variation of so much as half a degree. In 
these experiments, not only was there no change of 
temperature, but the usual stirring and working of the 



joo American Dairying. 

curds were wholly omitted. Nothing more was done 
to the curd than to cut it lengthwise and crosswise, 
and let it lie closely covered till it would respond to 
the hot iron test, when it was salted and put to press. 
The result was an increased product of fine curd, but 
from being injured by cold in curing, the cured cheese 
was only of medium quality. Similar experiments have 
since been repeated in this vat by other parties, when 
the weather was mild and curing favorable, in which 
the cheese proved to be very fine, demonstrating the 
possibility of successful cheese making without chang- 
ing temperature, or waste by stirring or handling. 

I have spoken thus at length of the Armstrong vat 
and these experiments, while treating of principles in 
cheese making, for the purpose of leading some pro- 
gressive dairyman to make the necessary experiments 
to reduce to successful practice the possibility they 
demonstrate. 

ACIDITY IN CHEESE MAKING. 

Though the coagulation of milk and the curing of 
cheese are brought about by the action of rennet, it is 
not the only agent which acts upon milk in cheese 
making. Lactic yeast, which gets into milk from the 
air or other sources, is always present, inducing a ten- 
dency to souring. This acidifying agent produces 
specific effects upon the curd and cheese which are 
peculiar and powerful. It aids rennet in the coagula- 
tion of milk, but counteracts its action in converting 
curd into cheese, and hence retards the curing process. 
While lactic acid, like many others, has but little 
influence upon solid fats, it readily takes up essential 
oils. Hence the more acid there is developed in cheese 
making, the more are the light flavoring oils in the 



Cheese Making, joi 

milk taken up, thus diminishing, according to the 
strength of the acid, the nutty flavor of the cheese. 
The fine aromatic flavor of either butter or cheese may 
be all wiped out by developing a sufficient amount of 
acid. This fact is worth the attention of all cheese 
makers who aspire to the production of a choice 
quality of goods. This ability of lactic and other 
acids to take up volatile oils, is often of great service 
in neutralizing excessive animal odor and other objec- 
tionable taints and odors in milk. 

Though the influence of lactic yeast is always opera- 
ting in connection with rennet, and the activity of both 
is increased as blood heat is approached, their relative 
activity is not always the same. The action of the 
acid yeast is relatively greater than that of rennet at 
the higher temperatures used in gheese making, and 
slower at the lower ones. There is often occasion to 
take advantage of this peculiarity, and. hence it is 
noticed in connection with the general principles in 
cheese making. 

The success of associated dairying now, unfortu- 
nately, depends largely on the use of acid as a con- 
trolling agent and corrective. Our practice of making 
one-half of the milk directly into cheese without 
expelling the animal odor — our unphilosophical, not 
to say wicked habit, of carrying milk to factories warm 
in closely covered vessels, increasing thereby not only 
the original amount of animal odor, but aggravating 
every taint or infection the milk may chance to possess 
from the cows having bad food, water, air, health, or 
treatment — make the use of acid a necessity. 

Every taint, from whatever source derived, develops 
into prominence both while the curd is in the vat and 
while it is ripening in the curing room, so that, unless 



J 02 American Dairying, 

counteracted, a cheese made of milk containing any 
taint, grows off flavor as it grows old, and is liable to 
be condemned for its faults before it is half ripe. 
Lactic acid neutralizes and hides all the taints which 
appear in milk, and hence its development in the whey 
and curds renders it possible to make a marketable 
cheese, out of milk w^hich would otherwise be con- 
demned. 

The cheese made where this necessity exists, must 
always be at least second quality, for while the acid 
employed readily takes up illegitimate flavors and 
odors, it just as readily takes up the legitimate ones, 
and hence its presence always depresses the delicious 
flavor which epicures so much admire. 

First class cheese can only be made from first class 
milk, and until our dairymen learn to produce such 
milk, they will be compelled to make and market 
second class cheese. 

As all the legitimate changes in making and curing 
cheese are due to the action of rennet, it must be evi- 
dent that, all other circumstances being the same, the 
more rennet there is used the more rapid and vigorous 
will those changes be. Dairymen act upon this prin- 
ciple. Formerly, when cheese was all made in private 
dairies, it was made to keep, and a small amount of 
rennet w^as used. The rennet of a calf was sufficient 
to curdle the milk of a cow for the whole season. 
Now, when it is desired to hurry cheese oif to market 
in ten or twenty days, or at most, thirty days from the 
hoop, it requires two such rennets to curdle the milk 
of a cow for the same time. 

When it is desired to make a cheese for long keep- 
ing, but little rennet is used, and its action in the vat 
is hastened by setting and working at an elevated tern- 



Cheese Making, joj 

perature. To make cheese cure rapidly, more rennet is 
used, and a too rapid action in the vat prevented by 
setting and working at a lower heat. 

To make the best cheese, rennet enough must be 
used to keep the action of the rennet ahead of the ten- 
dency to souring ; otherwise the curd will have a ten- 
dency to become sour and hard, rather than pasty and 
rich. 

The choicest cheeses are set at a pretty low temper- 
ature, and with considerable rennet^; and they are 
worked and cured at a low and steady temperature all 
the way through. This gives the rennet action the 
advantage of the acid, as it works relatively faster than 
acid at a low heat ; and the large quantity of rennet 
used does not hurry the action too much. In some of 
the best, the rennet is applied at about 77 degrees. 

This circumstance of getting the rennet action to 
run ahead of tiie development of acidity, enters into 
the manufacture of all the highly prized cheeses, 
wherever made; and there is no time when this start 
can be given so well as before the curd is salted. It is 
done most effectually by working low, as already 
described, drawing the whey early and packing the 
curd in the vat, covering it so that it shall all be warm 
alike, and letting it lie in that position till it is well 
matured. Letting the whey run away from it as fast 
as separated, prevents souring ; and it may lie in this 
situation until all the water has been separated that 
can be, without leaving the curd too dry. 

This is the underlying principle in the cheddering 
process. There are different w^ays of reaching the 
same result — as putting the curd into a hoop and let- 
ting it lie unpressed and warm for a day or more 
before salting it ; pressing fresh and salting afterward. 



JO 4- American Dairying. 

by rubbing salt on the outside, &c., &c. — in all of 
which, the ripening prgcess is put ahead by keeping 
the curd warm and out of the whey for a greater or 
less time before checking the rennet action by salting.* 
This course not only makes the resulting cheese pasty 
and rich, but it retains all the aroma of the flavoring 
oils in the milk. 

In the common method of making cheese for ship- 
ping, a different course is pursued. The curd and 
whey are warmed up to 98°, and the curd is keijt in 
the wliey till the acid gets the start of the rennet. 
The necessity and effect of this treatment have been 
explained. This makes the cheese dry, firm and com- 
pact, instead of mellow and pasty, and enables it to 
stand the rough treatment of shipping. Rennet 
enough is used to digest the curd into a rich and 
nutty paste, but its action is so modified by acid that 
it becomes too dry and insipid. Our shippino: cheese 
is hardly fancy. 

Under the present state of things, a cheese that will 
stand a voyage of 4,000 miles can hardly be a fancy 
cheese. In fact, the choicest cheese — that which is the 
richest and highest flavored — must, like the choicest 
fruit, be consumed not far from where it is pro- 
duced. 

But a much fancier cheese than we are now pro- 
ducing, one that Avill stand shipping, can be made. To 
do this, will require milk to be free from some of the 
imperfections which arc now quite common ; it must 
be transported to the factories in better ventilated 
cans ; it must be made with less rennet and less 
acidity ; and it must be cured in an even and lower 
temperature, and in a longer time. While this course 
will make a product that Avill equal our present cheese 



Cheese Making. joj 

in compactness, it will give a richness and high flavor 
not now attained. 



PRESSING CHEESE. 

ThQ object of pressing cheese is to make the parti- 
cles of curd cohere, make a smooth surface, and expel 
the whey which adheres to or is mingled with the 
curd as it goes into the hoop. The idea which some 
have that, where the whey is not properly separated 
before the curd goes to press, it can be forced out 
by hard pressure, is entirely idle. Whey is separated 
by fermentation, or other changes which occur in the 
curd. When this is not done, no amount of pressure 
can remove it. The amount of pressure needed varies 
with the condition of the curd. If the curd is cold 
and hard, it must be severe ; if soft and warm, but 
little is required. 

CURING CHEESE. 

Our curing rooms are not well adapted to producing 
fine cheese. In the first place, they are too dry. To 
produce the best results in curing cheese, the room 
should be moist enough to favor a free development 
of mold. A rapid evaporation of water from the cheese 
is induced by a dry atmosphere. Ten tons of new 
cheese w^U lose, in a dry curing room, fifty pounds of 
water per day ; this, coming mostly from the surface 
of the cheeses, makes them too dry to cure well. The 
surface in such cases never does cure; it dries down 
into a deep and hard rind of dried curd. This may be- 
some protection to cheese in handling, but it is a loss 
to the consumer of a portion of the outside of tlie 



jo6 American Dairying. 

cheese, and a needless loss of weight to the producer, 
besides doing further injury by preventing the ready 
escape of gases produced by fermentation within. A 
basement makes an excellent curing room — especially 
for cheese in the early stages of curing. But little 
light and little change of air are needed in curing 
cheese at the start. Such a room develops mold 
rapidly, to the injury of the external appearance of 
the cheese, but it is much better to contend with mold 
than dry air. 

The most obvious defect in the present structure of 
curing rooms, is their inability to guard against the 
varying temperatures of the outside air. Fancy chfeese . 
cannot be cured in a room in which the mercury rises 
and falls inside of it and outside of it alike. An 
approximately even temperature must be maintained, 
and this should be neither too high nor too low, but 
should be made to accord with the amount of fat the 
cheese contains. 

The more fat, the cooler may be the room ; and the 
less fat, the warmer may it be. The presence of fat 
in cheese facilitates the curing process ; so that, when 
cheese is very rich in fat, it may cure at a low temper- 
ature, and be fancy when it is done. A cheese poor 
in fat must be well warmed up to make any reasonable 
progress, and is always liable to become bitter, in a 
cool room. 

It is neither difficult nor expensive building curing 
rooms in which a comparatively even temperature can 
be maintained. The greatest difficulty in the way is, 
a disposition to do it. 

The temperature of a curing room for whole milk 
cheese should be 65° to 70°; for part skims, 70° to 
75°; for hard skims and sour cheese, 75' to 80°, 



Factory Cheese Making, joj 



CHEESE FACTORIES AND FACTORY MAN- 
AGEMENT. 



The manufacture of cheese in factories is steadily 
gaining in favor with dairymen and taking the place 
of private dairies, and is extending into new territo- 
ries where cheese has been little made before. 

The number of factories in the United States is now 
supposed to be about 5,000, and the number is rapidly 
increasing ; but the increase in the sum total of cheese 
made does not keep pace with the increasing number 
of cheese factories. The tendency has been within the 
last few years to build small factories instead of large 
ones, for convenience in delivering milk. 

In the old cheese producing districts, the territory 
formerly occupied by one large factory, is now fre- 
quently divided between several smaller ones, thus 
multiplying the number of factories without increas- 
ing the amount of cheese. Cheese factories have 
become so numerous and so familiarly known that 
any description of them seems almost superfluous. I 
give, however, ground plans of a few representative 
factories, which will show the common structure. 



jo8 



A ntericati Dairying. 




WILLOW GROVE FACTORY. 



D, Doors ; G, Presses ; S, Curd sink ; H. Hot 
•water ; P Drive way ; 'i\ Track from press roorn_to 
curing room ; V, Vats ; W, Weighing cans ~ ~ 
£ine. 



Figure 55 repre- 
-sents the Willow 
Grove Factory, 
which has a capa- 
city for 1,000 COWS, 
with a curing room 
separate from the 
manufacturi ng 
room, so that the 
cheese while curing 
shall not be affected 
by any scent from 
the make room. 
Size of make room, 
30x28; pressroom, 
14x26; curing 
room, 30x100. 

This mode of ar- 
ranging a factory 
is more expensive 
than to have the 
make room and 
curing room under 
the same roof, but 
it is regarded as 
favorable to purity 
of air in the curing 
room. 

The more com- 
mon plan is to 



E, En- 
build two stories 
high, to have the make room in one end of the lower 
story and a curing room in the other end and in the 
upper story. 



Factory Cheese MaktJtg. 



J09 



It is the custom 
in many factories 
to have the flimily 
of the manufac- 
turer live in the 
factory, and his 
residence is gen- 
erally located in 
the second story 
over the make 
room. It is more 
convenient and 
pleasant to place 
his residence in 
the lower story 
and in the end 
most distant froni 
the make room. 

Fig. 56 repre- 
sents the ground 
plan of a com- 
mon form of fac- 
tory without any 
living rooms. It 
is32xioo. 

Plans of fac- 
tories are abun- 
dant and easily 
obtained, and as 

^L?]^*!*i''^.L^"'^ '^^•'^'\'"^ ^^"^ ; '^^' Stairs— the one thcV mUSt VarV tO 

ing to the -^ ^ 




] 



Fig-. s6. ■ 
A, Annatto jar ; O, Salt barrel ; R R, Cold water ; 



outside and the one in the curing room, leading 

sect^d story ; I, Heating apparatus in curing room ; SUlt 

D, Doors ; V, yats ; S, Curd Sink ; H, Hot water : C, 

Table: E, Engine room. CaliticS 



different lo- 
and cir- 
cumstances, it is not necessary to multiply illustra- 



^10 American Dairying, 

tions. The mode of building will be much more 
likely to be defective than the form. The site will be 
determined by the convenience of delivering milk and 
the water supply, which it is very desirable, should be 
abundant and cool. Spring water is best, but a well 
will answer if made large and deep enough to keep 
cool. If the temperature of the water is too high, 
it may be cooled with ice, but a well is always 
objectionable by reason of the labor of pumping. A 
cool spring saves this labor and the expense of ice. 
The amount of water absolutely necessary in a factory 
is not so very large, if carefully economized, but it is 
much better to have it plenty. The amount which ^ 
will run through a three-quarter inch tube under two 
feet head, would be preferred for every 200 cows. 

Buildings for the manufacture of milk, whether to 
be made into cheese or butter, should be built with 
special reference to maintaining an even temperature. 
The cheese factories of tlie earlier days of the asso- 
ciated system were very defective in this respect. Sided 
up with inch boards, neither jointed nor matched, but 
only roughly battened, and often made of lumber not 
very sound, the air, whether hot or cold, found such 
ready access that the temperature within doors varied 
but little from that outside. This, in hot weather, was 
very unfavorable for the milk which stood in the vats 
over night, and disastrous to the cheese which had to 
be cured under such shelter. The necessity of building 
a curing room for cheese so as to control the temper- 
ature, seems not to have been properly appreciated by 
the pioneers in the associated system, nor is it properly 
understood now. What is wanted are walls, floors, 
and ceilings, through which neither cold nor heat can 
penetrate, and these are seldom found among the hosts 



Factory Cheese Maki7tg. ji r 

of Eastern factories. While in Northern Illinois and 
Southern Wisconsin, last summer, I saw a consider- 
able number of factories which appeared to me to be 
a decided improvement over the common style of 
building in the East. They were very efficient in pro- 
tecting their apartments against both heat and cold, 
and were at the same time durable and inexpensive 
The sills of the buildings were placed upon good 
walls of mason work and the outer walls studded in 
the usual way. The studs were set just far enough 
apart to take on a breadth of ceiling paper and have 
it break joints on the studs— the paper running from 
the sill to the plate. Paper was tacked onto the studs 
^oth inside and outside, and then covered, on the 
inside with good planed and matched boards running 
horizontally, and on the outside with the same running 
up and down. 

This made between the walls a dead air space much 
more perfect than could possibly be made with wood 
alone, or by lathing and plastering — the glazed paper 
being entirely impervious to air. The under side of 
the joists w^ere ceiled in the same way and the floors 
were also lined with the ceiling paper. With the 
doors and windows snugly fitted, a room thus pro- 
tected could be made to maintain an equable temper- 
ature, but little above 60 degrees, through all the hot 
weather, and could be very easily kept warm in cold 
weather. I saw cheese curing in these rooms, in hot 
weather in June, without being at all aff"ected by the 
severe heat of that season. The rooms were opened 
during cool nights and closed during the day to shut 
out the heat, which they did effectually. In creamer- 
ies, there was no difficulty in keeping butter in a room 
above ground, thoueh a basement for such use woiilrf 



J 12 American Dairying, 

be preferred. This mode of building is commended 
to such as are erecting new factories, and it may often 
be made useful in repairing and reconstructing old 
ones. 

DELIVERING MILK TO FACTORIES. 

When milk is to be carried to the factory or cream- 
ery, it is of course strained into a can. Ordinarily it 
will be sufficient to leave the can standing open, in a 
sweet, cool place — always out of the sun or rain — with, 
perhaps, an occasional stirring to prevent the forma- 
tion of an air tight covering of cpeam. Once on the 
road, of course, the milk will be sufficiently agitated 
for all practical purposes. And here, as before, neither 
ventilation nor protection from atmospheric influence 
should be neglected. There should be a cover to the 
milk wagon, and the cover of the can should be pro- 
vided with openings, constructed so as to prevent 
waste of milk, through which the animal odor can 
freely escape. 

The iron clad can is the one generally used for 
carrying milk to factories and creameries, and is well 
adapted for that purpose, with the exception of its 
having a tight cover and no sufficient provision for 
ventilation. One of the most objectionable things 
about the American dairy system, is carrying milk to 
the factories in cans partly filled and closed with tight 
covers. If the cans could be filled perfectly full, much 
of the difficulty would be obviated, as the agitation of 
the milk would be greatly reduced. 

Dairymen seem very slow to learn that the agitation 
of warm milk developes and increases the odor of new 
milk when closely covered, yet it is a fact which stares 



Factory CJiccse Making. jij. 

most of them in the face every time they deliver milk 
to a factory. New milk is always injured in its flavor 




?4T£NTED JAN.4.I8VQ 




Pi£r- 57- 



by carrying in a can with straight sides, like the iron 
clad, when there is room in the top of the can for it 
to splash from *side to side, and no chance is given for 



J 1 4- American Dairying, 

the accumulating odor to escape. Milk which appears 
well when it starts from the dairy, appears affected 
when thus treated, by the time it reaches the factory, 
even if it has but a short distance to go. A very large 
share of the milk delivered to cheese factories is 
injured in being transported, so much as to materially 
depress the quality of the cheese made from it. 

If there is the least thing about milk which is not 
just right, carrying it closely covered will soon swell 
the little defect to a very large one. In 1869, I 
examined a herd of cows whose milk was affected by 
breathing the scent of carrion. The milk was care- 
fully examined as it was milked, and when it started 
for the factory could not be distinguished from perfect 
milk. The cans were closely covered, and when they 
had rode in this condition two miles to the factory, 
the odor had become perfectly nauseating and the 
milk so injured that the whole vatful with which it 
was mixed was nearly ruined. A similar result fol- 
lows whenever cows become a little affected by a hot 
sun, by worrying a little, or drinking stagnant water, 
or going without water too long, or by a multitude of 
other little irregularities which are every now and 
then occurring, but which would be entirely obviated 
if the cover of the can were sufficiently open to give 
the milk free access to the air. With proper ventila- 
tion of the carrying cans, tainted milk would be of 
very rare occurrence, and thousands of dollars would 
annually be saved in the quality of cheese. For but- 
ter making milk is not improved by transporting, but 
for cheese making, the ride to a factory is a positive 
advantage, if properly ventilated. 

A variety of ways have been devised for ventilating 
milk cans, but I have seen nothing* so cheap and 



Factory Cheese Making, 



^15 



eflficient as the device of the author, iHustrated in 
figure 58. It is made by cuttino; a circle out of the 
center of the cover, and soldering over it a piece of 
coarsely perforated tin, or of wire cloth, and giving it 
a moderate depression in the middle. Around the 
outside of the wire cloth is soldered a flange of tin 
two inches high to prevent any milk which may dash 
through the cloth from wasting. 




Fig. 58. 

The only objection to this mode of ventilating, is a 
possibility that dust may occasionally fall through it 
•into the milk. It ventilates perfectly. Milk which 
would injure by riding under a tight cover, will grow 
better by riding under this, and the farther it rides the 
better it will be, provided it stops short of souring or 
churning to butter. Under it, milk carried to a cheese 
factory needs no other airing or cooling. 



DELIVERING MILK ONCE A DAY. 

With proper facilities for taking care of the milk on 
the farm, it is quite as well to deliver it once a day as 
twice. All that is needed is an open shed under 



Ji6 American Dairying. 

which the evening's milk can stand during the night, 
uncovered, and a double set of cans for carrying. The 
night's milk should occupy all the cans till morning. 
This will spread it so much that no other cooling will 
be required than it will receive from the night air, 
except, perhaps, occasionally in a very warm night. 
In the morning, one half of the cans may be emptied 
into the other half, and the cans taken for the morn- 
ing's milk, which should not be mixed with the night's 
milk before it reaches the factory. 

At the cheese factories, milk is always received by 
weight instead of measure. Upon arrival at the fac- 
tory, it is elevated by a wheel or a crane and dumped 
into a large weighing can which stands on platform 
scales, high enough to allow of spouting the milk, in 
an open conductor, to the manufacturing vats as soon 
as weighed. A very convenient scale for this purpose 
has been invented by the Buffalo scale works, which 
has a seven-barred scale beam, on which the milk 
of seven different patrons can be weighed without 
emptying the milk can, or stopping to set down the 
weights. 

The milk received at night is run into the manufac- 
turing vats, and cooled by running water under it 
down to about 70°, and left for the night. By allowing 
the water to run all night it will get down to about 60° 
by morning, and will be in good order. 

A few years ago a good deal of stress was laid upon 
the use of agitators, by the action of which the milk 
was kept stirred all nighty to prevent the cream from 
rising. They were kept in operation by the power 
furnished by the waste water used to cool the milk. 
They are occasionally in use yet. They are so regu- 
lated as to act at regular intervals, stirring the milk or 



Factory Cheese Making. jij 

producing waves on its surface. The effect was to 
prevent a coat of cream from forming. They could 
hardly prevent the crej^i from coming to the surface, 
but they would prevent it from becoming thick. They 
left it mingled with the top of the milk. The use of 
these machines is differently estimated by cheese 
makers. Some prize them highly and others think 
them of questionable utility. After one season's use 
of a good machine I laid it by as not worth the little 
trouble of keeping it in operation. There was quite 
as much waste when the agitator was run as when it 
was not, and sometimes I thought more. 

In the morning, the cream which may have been 
raised during the night, is dipped off (I used a curd 
scoop) and as the morning's milk is run into the vats, 
is turned into the strainer and washed through with 
the warm milk. This, with me, seemed to put the 
cream in better condition for mixing with the milk, 
than when it was left in by the agitator.. The cream 
should be taken off before any of the morning's milk 
is run in, but it should not be put into, the strainer till 
near the close of running in the morning's milk, so 
that it shall be freshly mixed with the milk at the time 
of applying the rennet. 

For furnishing steam and motive power in factories 
and creameries, for grinding curd, churning, &c., small 
portable boilers of different patterns are employed, 
many of them being built with special reference to 
dairy use. Prominent among them is the horizontal 
flue boiler, known as " The Economizer," for an illus- 
tration of which I am indebted to Gardner B. Weeks, 
dealer in dairy apparatus, Syracuse, N.V. (See figures 
59 and 60.) 

This boiler has all the necessary fixtures for con- 



3iS 



American Dairying. 




Figures sg awa' 60.— THE ECONOMIZER. 



Factory Cheese Making. jig 

venience and safety, and is ready for use when 
sliipped and is set up without any mason work. The 
engine attached to it is simple in structure and is 
easily and safely managed by workmen of ordinary 
skill, and has an adjustable cut-off for economizing the 
use of steam. The four-horse power boiler is adapted 
to a. factory of 400 cows, varying the size up or down 
for a greater or less number. 

Messrs. Jones & Faulkner, of Utica, N.Y., long and 
prominently known as dealers in dairy apparatus, and 
to w^hom I am indebted for various illustrations, also 
build an excellent boiler and engine for dairy purposes, 
as also do other parties, but which I have not space to 
illustrate. 

There are different ways for warming milk and 
heating curds. The agent most generally preferred 
is dry steam, which must be very carefully distributed 
to prevent heating different parts of the vat unequally. 
To secure even heating, some workmen fill the space 
between the vats with water, and heat the water by dis- 
charging steam into it. Others heat the water by a 
direct application of the fire, and others still do the 
heating by throwing a jet of steam directly into the 
milk and whey. I have used all these methods. Throw- 
ing the steam directly into the milk or whey to be 
heated, is the simplest and cheapest way; dry steam 
between the vats is most convenient ; and water heats 
most evenly and holds heat the longest, but is most 
difficult to control. 

The vats used'in the manufacture of cheese are built 
nearly alike, all being composed of a tin vat for hold- 
ing the milk, within a wooden envelope, having a 
space between the two for steam or water to heat or 
cool the milk as required. The tin vat is fitted with a 



J20 



American Dairying. 



frame, and handles for holding it in place, or lifting it 

out at any time desired. 

Some are fitted with a 
heater under them, or at- 
tached to one end, making 
what are called self-heat- 
ers. Others are made for 
heating with water only. 
The form here illustrated 
in figure 6i is the one 
generally used. 

If there is more than 
one vat, the morning's 
milk, as it arrives, should 
be divided so as to be 
mixed half and half with 
the night's milk. The 
coloring, if any is used, 
may be applied at any 
time after the cream is 
stirred in. It is only es- 
sential that it should be 
well mixed before the 
rennet is put in. The 
rennet should be in read- 
iness and as soon as 
the milk intended for 




Fig. 6i. 



the vat is all in, it should be added and well stirred to 
be evenly mixed through the whole mass. The stir- 
ring should continue till near the time the coagulation 
is expected to begin, and then the vat should be closely 
covered and left for the milk to come to rest before the 
curd begins to form. 

The mode of heating to warm the milk is not essen- 



Factory Cheese Making. 



321 



tial, if only there is left no steam leaking on, nor hot 
water about the vat, to make an unequal heat in any 
part of it while the curd is being formed. The tem- 
perature of the milk when the rennet is applied varies 
according to the condition of the milk and the par- 
ticular mode of making intended to be carried out. 
When the milk is in a normal condition and cheddar 
cheese is intended to be made, the rennet is applied, 
by a majority of makers, at 84' and enough rennet put 
in to show signs of curding in ten to fifteen minutes, 
and to become firm enough to cut in about forty-five 
minutes. 

When the curd has be- 
come of the right consis- 
tency for cutting, which is 
determined by its parting 
with a clean fracture as the 
finger is passed through it, 
it is cut with the Young's 
perpendicular curd knife, 
both lengthwise and cross- 
wise of the vat, and then 
with the horizontal knife, 
which leaves the curd in half 
inch cubes. It is then left 
standing till the curd is 
nicely covered with whey, 
say fifteen minutes. Then 
with the hands, the curd is stirred from the bottom, care- 
fully bringing .as much of the bottom as possible to 
the surface, especially if any part has been mi€sed 
with the curd knives, so that it may be made fine like 
the rest, and so that the mass of curd shall be loosened 
up as much as possible, to be in a condition to heat 




Fig. 62. 

PERPENDICULAR 
KNIFE. 



Fig. 63. 

HORIZONTAL 
KNIFE. 



J22 American Dairying. 

evenly. When this is done the heat is let on and the 
curd warmed up very gradually, five or six degrees, 
and gently stirred to keep the curd from packing and 
therefore heating unevenly. The heat should then be 
shut off for fifteen or twenty minutes to give time for 
the lumps of curd to get warmed through, so that the 
inside of the lumps shall have the same temperature 
as the outside, but moderate stirring should be con- 
tinued to prevent packing while the heat is off. As 
soon as the heat is supposed to have penetrated 
through the lumps of curd, so that they have the 
same temperature inside as outside, the heat may be 
turned on again and the mass raised five or six degrees 
more in the same way as before, and after another 
interval, repeated, bringing the whole up to 96 or 98 
degrees. The stirring at first is best done by hand, 
afterward, when it begins to harden, it may be stirred 
with a rake. The whole time of heating should occupy 
an hour and a half or two hours. The more gradual 
it is done the better. Up to this point in the process, 
the practices of manufacturers are very uniform, vary- 
ing but little from the course here indicated. Beyond 
this, they differ considerably. The leading features in 
the different courses pursued deserve attention. The 
one by which the finest cheese is made is of English 
origin, and is known as the Cheddar system, and will 
be first described. The English method is not strictly 
follQwed by American manufacturers. It is varied in 
different ways, but the underlying principle is not lost 
sight of in the various deviations from the English 
mode. Mr. S. A. Farrington, of Pennsylvania, who 
derived his practice directly from English experts, and 
who is quite successful in making after the Cheddar 
plan, proceeds as follows, taking the work from the 



Factory CJieesc Making, 



323 



time when the heating is done. After the heat is 
turned off, and the whey and curds, and water under 
the vat, if any, have assumed a uniform temperature 
and there is no longer any danger of heating unevenly, 
the stirring ceases, to let the curd pack on the bottom 
of the vat and the fine particles, which may be floating 
in the whey, settle and adhere to the rest. When this 
lias been done, the syphon (fig. 64) is applied and the 
whey drawn off, the vat is 
tipped a little, and the curd 
heaped up against the sides 
of the vat and left to drain. 
If the weather is cool, a lit- 
tle heat is let in and the vat 
covered to keep the temper- 
ature about 98° In warm 
weather this will not be re- 
quired. In this condition 
the whey is steadily draining 
out and the curd becoming 
more firmly packed. As 
soon as it has become suffi- 
ciently adhesive to hold to- 
gether, say in 15 or 20 min- 
utes, it is cut into chunks 
convenient to handle, and turned over, so that all 
parts shall be affected alike. This is repeated at 
intervals of twenty or thirty minutes, till the curd is 
advanced to the proper stage for salting and pressing. 
This stage is determined by the appearance and smell 
of the curd. When sufficiently ripened the curd 
becomes tough and stringy, and when pulled apart, 
splits instead of breaking, showing a fibrous structure 
similar to that which may be seen in pidling apart the 




3H 



A ))icricaii Dairying. 



muscular fibers in lean beef when boiled. At this 
stage, it assumes a distinct and peculiar odor which it 
is difficult to describe. It has something of the sick- 
ening smell of animal odor, but is more like that of 
the cows' breath than anything else I can compare it 
with. 

As the curd approaches the proper degree of ripe- 
ness it is allowed to cool gradually, so that when it is 
ground the bits of curd will not so readily adhere 
again, as they would do if kept near 98°. If the curd 
mill is operated by hand, it may now be set on the 
vat, that the curd as ground may fall back into the 
vat. If the mill is operated by power, the curd is put 

into a curd sink, 
and run under the 
mill and ground 
fine enough to 
admit of salting 
evenly. A curd 
mill which will cut 
the curd fine, in- 
stead of bruising it 
to pieces, is prefer- 
red, the only object 
being to make the 
curd fine for the sake of even salting. Two and a 
quarter to two and a half pounds of salt to i,oco 
pounds of milk is applied, and when cooled to 70° the 
curd is put to press. When tlie milk is all right, 
this process produces a fixncy cheese. 

Others let the whey all remain on the curd till it 
begins to show indications of acidity, then draw off 
the whey and treat as above, or decide when the curd 
is ready iox the press by the hot iron test. 




Fig. 6s. 
CURD MILL. 



Factory Cheese Making, 



3^5 



It is not necessary, in 
followinor out the Ched- 
dar system, to be very 
precise as to the time the 
whey is drawn, if only it 
is done before acidity be- 
comes distinct ; but it may 
be remarked that, as a 
general thing, the longer 
the curd lies in the whey 
after it is separated, the 
more the quality of the 
cheese is depressed, the 
influence of the whey up- 
on the curd, especially in 
its later stages, being un- 
favorable to fine quality. 

Another process, which 
may be denominated the 
American process, is as 
follows : 

Starting from the point 
where we began with the 
Cheddar system — the time 
when the heating was 
done — the curd, instead of being allowed to pack, is 
gently stirred to keep it fine and prevent it from 
packing. The stirring is kept up and the whey is 
kept on until the acid becomes distinct. The curd 
is from time to time tested, and as soon as it will 
respond to the hot iron test, the whey is drawn, the 
curd dipped into the sink and carefully stirred enough 
to prevent its adhering till it is sufficiently drained 
for salting. It is then salted at the rate of 2}^ to 2^ 




Fig. 66. 
CURD SINK ON CASTORS. 



J> 



26 American Dairying. 



pounds of salt to 1,000 pounds of milk, and when cool 
enough, put to press. This will produce a firm, com- 
pact and meaty cheese, of fair flavor and of good ship 
ping quality, but in fineness of flavor will be inferior 
to the Cheddar cheese. 

The difference in the working of these two pro- 
cesses is this : In the former — the Cheddar process — 
the formation of acid is, to a large extent, prevented 
by removing the whey which contains the acidifying 
agent — sugar. If, by reason of the little sugar left in 
the curd, acidity develops while the cheddaring pro- 
cess is going on, it is at once carried away by the whey 
which is all the time separating and escaping. By 
this means, the digestive action carried on by the 
agency of rennet in the curd, goes on unimpeded, as 
the acid which would counteract its progress, is kept 
out of its way. By this process, too, the nutty flavor 
is very completely retained, as there is not sufficient 
acid developed to neutralize it. By this process of re- 
moving the whey early, taints of every variety, as well 
as acidity, are carried away and prevented from form- 
ing, leaving the rennet to its own perfect action. 

In the other process — that zA leaving the whey on 
and developing a distinct acidity — the strong acid 
counteracts, to some extent, the activity of the rennet 
action. This of itself would do no serious injury. 
What the acid does besides this, is to neutralize every 
species of taint which may have developed from any 
cause in the curd and whey, holding them in check, 
while the rennet; but little impeded by the acid, goes 
on curing the cheese. The great point in the use of 
acid is, that it neutralizes all the volatile matters which 
make taints perceptible. If it stopped at this point, 
it would be well ; but^ as before explained, it neu- 



Factory Cheese Making. J2J 

tralizes also the volatile oils on which the nutty flavor 
of cheese depends, so that the more acid we develop, 
the less nutty flavor in the cheese. 

In the earlier days of associated dairying, it was 
customary to dip the curd while perfectly sweet, and, 
without cheddaring or souring, drain, salt, and put to 
press at once, or as soon as cooled. A similar course 
is often pursued now. The result is a soft, weak, por- 
ous or spongy cheese, which some people like, but 
which more people do not. In this practice there is 
no definite rule for determining when the curd is fit 
for the press. Something can be told by the elasticity 
with which the lumps of curd spring apart after being 
squeezed in the hand, or by its squeaking between the 
teeth ; but these are very indefinite guides. The maker 
has to rely on his judgment or experience, and hence 
it is rare that the cheese will be alike in any two cases. 
Cheeses made in this way are very apt to huff" and be 
off" flavor, and get out of shape, especiallv in the early 
part of their curing. The large amount of whey left 
in the curd often develops a strong acid in the curing 
room, before cheesing begins, by which the fine flavor 
of the resulting cheese is always depressed, and not 
unfrequently occasions leaking. The best reliance for 
getting a good cheese by this method, is to work very 
fine and heat pretty high, by which means the whey 
may be sufficiently worked out to secure meatiness 
and a fair flavor. 

The three processes described may be regarded as the 
leading ones in the American system of cheese making. 
The multifarious modes adopted by different dairymen 
are but modifications of one or the other of these three 
primary methods. 



^28 American Dairying, 

WORKING TAINTED MILK. 

Under the phrase " tainted milk " is classed all milk 
which has any strong smell or taste, particularly that 
in which strong odors are developed in transporting, 
handling and manufacturing. The taints which thus 
develop are the result of unusual ferments, and are to 
be treated as such. The action of all such ferments 
accords with the action of rennet, both in the coagu- 
lation of milk and in the conversion of curd into 
cheese. Hence less rennet is needed than in milk not 
tainted, and less should be used. Tainted milk often 
coagulates without the addition of any rennet, when 
entirely sweet, so strong is the coagulating tendency 
of taint. Curds thus formed, have in several instances 
been made into marketable cheese without the use of 
rennet, or any addition whatever to the milk. 

As soon as the curd becomes firm, it should be cut 
fine, and the heat put on at the earliest moment it safely 
can be, with a view to the earliest separation of the 
whey possible. After this is done, two courses are 
open to the operator. One is to keep all the whey on, 
warming it up as soon as it will be safe, to 98' or 100', 
with a view to the early development of a strong acid 
to neutralize the taint and silence its action ; the other 
is to run off the whey at the very earliest moment 
practicable after reaching the maximum heat, packing 
in the vat, and beginning cheddaring at once, with a 
view to carrying off the taint in the whey 

The acid method is the one generally adopted. It 
is well known that acidity counteracts all the taints 
which occur in milk, or curd, or cheese, and hence, 
when they are met with in cheese making, the usual 
course is to keep all the whey on and under a favorable 



Factory Cheese Making. j2g 

heat for souring, till a sufficient amount of acid is de- 
veloped to overcome the taint. In extreme cases, 
where acid cannot be developed fast enough in the 
whey, sharp vinegar at the rate of a pint to i,ooo lbs. 
of -milk is added, with excellent effect; or sour whey 
is used, either sparingly with the rennet, or freely in 
the warm whey in the vat, to hasten souring. The 
operator should continue the curd in the warm whey 
till the acid distinctly predominates over the taint, and 
he should mark well the difference between the strong 
odor which becomes manifest in the whey in such 
cases, just before the acid becomes distinct, or he will 
fall short of developing acid enough to counteract the 
taint. 

If the hot iron test is made use of to determine when 
to draw the whey in treating tainted curds with the 
acid process, the whey should be kept on till the curd, 
when pulled away from the iron, will spin out into 
fine long threads, exceeding considerably the length 
required for ordinary milk. By following out this 
course, and airing and cooling the curd well, a cheese 
of good texture and of fair flavor and keeping quality 
can be made, when the milk is so much affected as to 
produce a floating curd. The other method — that of 
getting rid of the taint by getting rid of the whey 
which contains it — has been for several years carried 
out successfully by Mr. Farrington, of Pennsylvania, 
and is done simply by ripening the curd in the vat as 
exclusively as possible with the Cheddar process, by 
running off the whey just as soon as the curd will pack. 
He proceeds upon the theory that the taint is in tlic 
whey, and reacts upon the curd, and that by getting 
rid of the whey, he gets rid of the taint, leaving the 
curd unhurt and sound. His theory seems to be sup- 



J JO American Dairying. 

ported by the fact that the cheese he has made in this 
way, when ready for market, can hardly be distin- 
guished from that made from ordinary milk, though it 
will not keep so long. 

Heating milk which is in any degree tainted to 130* 
purifies it entirely of all offensive odor, and if at once 
cooled and made into cheese in the usual way, the pro- 
duct will be the same as from milk not so affected. 

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 
It is better to avoid tainted milk than to struggle with 
its effects. But all dairymen have not learned how to 
do it, and manufacturers must deal with it in the best 
way they can. 

WORKING SOUR MILK. 

Milk will often respond to an acid test before the 
presence of acidity will be recognized by tasting. Milk 
in such a condition, and even after acidity becomes 
sensible, can be made into good cheese. The course 
to be pursued is the reverse of that in tainted milk. In 
tainted milk we have too much rennet action — in stale 
milk we have too much acid action. In the former we 
use less rennet than in ordinary milk ; in the latter we 
use more, so as to make the rennet action, at least, 
equal to that of the lactic yeast. Set at a low temper- 
ature — 78* or 80* — so that the changes shall not be too 
rapid by reason of the increased amount of rennet. 
The curd should be ready to cut in 15 to 20 minutes 
from the time of applying the rennet, and should be 
cut fine and worked as rapidly as it well can be. Work 
low all the way through, being careful not to raise the 
heat so much as to hurry the curd faster than it can be 
taken care of. The more acid, the less heat. The 



Factory Cheese Makitig. jji 

scalding may run from 90° down to 80°, or kept at the 
degree of setting, all the way through, if distinctly 
sour. It is best to heat just enough to hasten the pro- 
cess as fast as it can be attended to. When it is aboi/t 
to respond to the hot iron test, the curd should be at 
once dipped, and as soon as drained, salted and put to 
press warm. 

Another method of treating milk which is nearly or 
quite sour, is to drain off the whey as fast as form'ed, 
for the purpose, as in the case of tainted milk, of get- 
ting the acid out of the w^ay and preventing it from 
affecting the curd. Instead of warming the curd by 
steam or hot water, under or around the vat, it may be 
warmed by putting water of the desired temperature 
directly into the curd. By running this off and adding 
more warm water, the acid can be nearly all washed 
out. In other respects it may be treated as in the first 
method. - 

By salting while quite warm, the salt strikes through 
the curd rapidly, and retards the action of the acid, and 
by excluding it from the air by pressing, it is stopped 
entirely, while the rennet action goes on without 
hindrance. In this way good results are secured. 

WORKING SKIMMILK CHEESE. 

There is more difficulty in makino- good cheese from 
skimmilk than from milk in any other condition. The 
action of rennet in digesting milk into cheese is sup- 
ported largely by the fatty matter in the milk. This 
is especially true of the lighter fats, for the more vol- 
atile oil there can be retained in the curd, the more 
energetic is the action of the rennet. It is easy enough 
to coagulate skimmilk, but when the light flavoring 



JJ2 American Dairying. 

oils and the principal part of the fatty matter of the 
milk, are carried off with the cream, the action of the 
rennet is so much depressed as to make the curing of 
the curd into cheese very difficult, slow and imperfect. 
Unless the curing process can be properly effected, the 
product is worthless for human food. So long as 
casein retains its curdy condition, it is insoluble in 
water or weak acids, such as exist in the stomach, and 
of course indigestible. Coagulated casein becomes 
soluble by the aid of an alkali, or by the change 
wrought upon it in the curing process. It is then 
easily digested, and becomes a nutritious and palatable 
food. 

It is the misfortune of cheese made from skimmilk 
that it so far fails in the curing process as to retain 
its curdy nature, and remain insoluble and indi- 
gestible, when it is old enough to become cheese. As 
wsually made and cured, much of what is called skim 
cheese is not entitled to the name of cheese, for it never 
fully becomes such — it is only dried curd, or partly 
curd and partly cheese, since the curing, or cheesing 
process, is but partially completed. To the extent to 
which it fails in curing, it is insipid and unwholesome, 
because of being insoluble, it is indigestible. By lying 
in the stomach long enough to complete the cheesing 
process, which it will do in time, it can be digested ; 
but by such a detention in the stomach it becomes a 
source of irritation, and produces constipation — a re- 
sult which does not occur with well cured cheese, which, 
on the contrary, is rather a laxative. 

Since skim cheese fails in curing, and since it is 
insipid, worthless and unwholesome to the extent to 
which it falls short of curing, and remains tough and 
curdy, instead of being mellow, tender and salvy, the 



I^actory Cheese Making, JJj 

operator who attempts its manufacture should employ 
his utmost skill to stimulate the curing process. To 
tliis end, the sweet buttermilk should always be added, 
and the rennet applied at about 80', and more rennet 
used than with unskimmed milk. The curd should be 
cut fine and worked at a low temperature, the same as 
when milk is sour, with a view to keeping the digestive 
action of the rennet ahead of the tendency to souring. 
Only so much heat should be applied as to keep the 
work progressing, and if a curd mill is used, the curd 
may be allowed to pack in the whey ; but, if not, the 
curd must be kept stirred and kept fine, so as to be 
handled with dispatch when it is ready to dip. As 
soon as it begins to respond to the hot iron test, dip, 
drain, and salt expeditiously, or the acid will advance 
too much, and hurry into the press warm. Use a little 
more salt than with whole milk, say X lb. more to 100 
lbs. of curd, otherwise putrefactive fermentation is 
liable to take the place of cheesing when full skim- 
ming is practiced. If when taken from the press the 
curing can be done in a room with a nearly uniform 
temperature of 75°, a wholesome and fairly palatable 
cheese will result. But if the room is not warm enough, 
or the temperature is allowed to drop and raise alter- 
nately, the cheese will be spoiled in curing. Skim 
cheeses are much more difficult to cure than those from 
whole milk. They can not be cured, without being 
injured, in a room in which the mercury feels all the 
changes of the outside air. 

If a curd mill is used, it is better to follow the Ched- 
dar process, drawing the whey as soon as the curd will 
pack, and grinding when it will begin to respond to 
the hot iron test, treating otherwise as above. 

Where half skimming is practised, the treatment 



jj^ American Dairying. 

should be between that for full skimming and whole 
milk cheese. 



OLEOMARGARINE CHEESE. 

To remedy the defective curing occasioned by the 
loss of fatty matter in the cheese from removing the 
cream, H. O. Freeman, of Sherburne, N. Y., devised 
the plan of supplying the loss of fat by artificially 
mixing with the skimmilk, just before adding the ren- 
net, some clean cheap fat, such as rancid butter puri- 
fied, or oleomargarine derived from beef suet. The 
latter only is now used. The fat is melted preparatory 
to mixing, and the milk warmed up to about 94°, and 
the fat thoroughly mixed. Rennet enough is then 
applied to coagulate the milk in 8 or 10 minutes, and 
the stirring continued till the curd begins to form. 
Only a part of the fat will be retained in the curd. 
Enough is added so that the curd will retain 1% lbs. 
for each 100 lbs. of milk ; the rest, rising on the whey, 
is skimmed off and saved for usfe again. In other 
respects the curd is worked and pressed in the usual 
way. The fat enclosed in the curd facilitates the cur- 
ing, and gives body to the cheese. When skillfully 
made, the cheeses appear rich and well flavored, and 
are often mistaken in the market for whole milk 
cheese. The greatest difficulty in manufacturing is to 
mix the fat evenly. 

THE ELLSWORTH METHOD. 

Another mode of treating skimmilk, first practiced 
by Mr. John T. Ellsworth, of Barre, Mass., and hence 
known as the Ellsworth Method, was suggested by the 



Facto?')' Cheese Making. jj^ 

author, a few years ago, for the purpose of better uti- 
lizing the vahiable nitrogenous elements of skimmilk, 
and has proved ver)^ satisfactory. The milk to be made 
into cheese is heated to 135' or above, while new and 
warm, and then cooled to about 60", and left for the 
cream to rise, the same as milk not heated, and skim- 
med when 36 or 48 hours old, as is customary in 
creamery practice. The cream is churned sweet, and 
a part of the skimmilk is churned either with the cream 
or separately, and the buttermilk and the churned 
milk are mixed with the skimmed milk and made into 
cheese by one or the other of the methods above de- 
tailed, — the Cheddar method is preferred. Three 
points are gained by this method : first, heating the 
new milk makes the casein when coagulated softer and 
easier to cure than when not heated ; second, it pre- 
vents the buttermilk from imparting that peculiar 
flavor to the cheese which is imparted to it by the 
buttermilk of milk not so heated, and it promotes as 
much as other buttermilk the curing of the cheese ; 
third, the churned milk promotes the curing of the 
cheese the same as buttermilk, and with all these aids 
for facilitating the curing prc^cess, the operator is able 
to make a superior skimmilk cheese, and to cure it as 
rapidly and as perfectly as whole milk cheese. 

The large amount of valuable nitrogenous matter in 
the milk which must be used for our butter supply, and 
which has heretofore only furnished food for swine, or 
been made into a skim cheese, unfit for human food, 
may, by this method, be fully utilized, by converting 
it into a palatable and w^holesome product, and one 
which finds a ready sale in the markets. 

But, however successful we may be in moulding 
skimmilk into a fine flavored and digestible cheese, we 



^j6 American Dairying. 

are not able to make a whole milk cheese of it. The 
nutty flavor and aroma imparted by the flavoring oils 
which go with the cream, and the richness imparted 
by the cream itself, cannot be supplied by any mode 
of manufactuic. But we may justly regard it as a 
matter of much gratification that we are able to trans- 
form into a palatable and wholesome food for human 
use, what was so nearly wasted before. 

HAY CHEESE. 

It is desirable to dispose of hay cheese as early as 
possible to prevent bringing it into competition with 
better goods. To this end, hay-fed milk should be 
manufactured to cure as quickly as possible. 

To facilitate curing, hay milk, like skim-milk, should 
be manufactured at a low temperature, and with a 
large amount of rennet. Curd ripens very mucli 
faster while lying warm in the vat, than after it is 
taken out ; and this fact may be taken advantage of 
when it is desired to hurry the curing of the cheese. 
By being careful to adapt the temperature of manu- 
facturing to the rennet used, and by digesting the 
curd as long as possible by cheddaring, or by lying in 
the whey, the curing process may be pretty well 
advanced before it goes to press. An extra hour in 
the vat will ripen the curd as much as several days in 
the curing room. It requires a good deal of skill to 
make and cure hay cheese to the best advantage, and 
when that skill is used, a good cheese and one that 
will ripen quickly, sell well and prove satisfactory, 
may be made. But if that skill* is not available, and 
a poor product— one that is sour, bitter, tough, or 
curdy, is to go into the market, it would be better 



Factory Cheese Making. jjy 

to suspend cheese- making till grass comes, and make 
butter through the spring. No one should attempt 
to make both butter and cheese from the same milk in 
the spring, when only passable cheese can be made 
with all the cream worked in. 

The curing of early cheese in factories is frequently 
defective, being too slow, and the heat uneven. The 
difference in the nature of hay curd and grass cuni 
should be noticed, and the requisite difference in 
curing made. The casein, or cheesy matter derived 
from the milk of cows fed on full grown hay, or other 
well matured fodder, is harder and tougher than that 
from the milk of cows fed on tender grass, and it 
requires more curing to break it down and make it 
salvy and rich. It takes a longer time, and a higher 
temperature to make it cure with sufficient rapidity. 
Curd made from grass will cure as fast at 65 degrees, 
as that from hay at 75. Ordinarily, 75 to 80 degrees 
is about the right temperature for hay cheese to ripen 
in with the best results. It is better to hurry it up 
as quickly as is compatible with safety. It should 
not only be kept as warm as it will admit of, but the 
heat should be unremitting night and day. To keep 
spring cheese hot during the day, and cold during the 
night, is to thwart the curing, and make it grow sour 
and bitter, doing injury to the flavor that no after- 
treatment can ever overcome. It is always detrimental 
to the quality of cheese to be subjected, while curing, 
to wide variations in temperature, but to spring cheese 
it is fatal. 

It should be remembered that while it is desirable 
to dispose of hay cheese as soon as may be, it is never 
good policy to send away green cheese. It is some- 
times done in the summer, anticipating that it will 



jjS American Dairying. 

keep on curing, and be all right by the time it reaches 
the consumer. It never cures, however, as well in the 
box as in the curing room. But this practice cannot 
be safely followed with hay cheese, for the moment it 
leaves the shelves and gets cold, the curing .stops, and 
the flavor at once begins to depreciate, growing bitter 
and sour, and otherwise defective. Hay cheese should, 
therefore, never be allowed to leave the curing room 
till it is fit to go upon the table. 

PRESSING CHEESE. 

Curd for curing into cheese, is molded and pressed 
into different forms and sizes, as custom, convenience, 
or the market, dictates. The cylinder form, 8 to lo 
inches high, and 14 to 15 in diameter, is now gener- 
ally preferred as being the most convenient for hand- 
ling and desirable for shipping, but is far from being 
the most convenient form for presenting to consumers. 
Thinner and smaller patterns are more convenient for 
cutting. A cheap method of molding and curing 
cheeses of a size suitable for families to purchase 
whole, is a desideratum, which when satisfactorily 
filled, will increase largely the home consumption of 
cheese. 

In molding curd into cheese, different modes have 
been, and are still, pursued. Formerly the curd was 
molded into the desired form in a large cloth placed 
inside of the hoop, called a press-cloth. When the 
curd had been pressed long enough to hold together 
so firmly as to bear handling, the press-cloth was 
removed, and a clean one applied, and the cheese 
turned and placed back in the press to complete the 
pressing. This done, a bandage was applied, and the 






Factory Cheese Making. jjp 

cheese placed in the curing room. Now when press- 
cloths are used, a bandage is applied in the place of 
the second press-cloth, and the top and bottom of the 
cheese covered with a circular cloth called a " head- 
cloth " or "cap-cloth," and the pressing then con- 
tinued till done. By finishing the pressing with the 
bandage on, the curd is forced into the meshes of the 
cloth, making a better rind to the cheese, and in every 
way a better job than when the bandage is applied 
after the cheese is pressed. In some factories the use 
of the first press-cloth is avoided by placing a head- 
cloth at the bottom of the hoop, and a ring of rubber, 
wood, or rope, around the inner edge of the hoop to 
keep the curd from crowding out under the edge of 
the hoop, and a similar cloth and ring on the top of 
the curd, and then applying the follower and pressing 
till the curd is firm enough to bandage, when the 
bandage is applied, and the cheese turned, and the 
pressing finished. It is an objection to this mode of 
beginning the pressing that, if cooled as much as is 
desirable before pressing, the surface of the curd does 
not unite as perfectly when in contact with wood or 
iron, as when covered with cloth. Hence this practice 
is limited. The great majority of factorymen now 
place the bandage inside of the hoop, and fill the curd 
into the bandage, and thus mold the cheese in the 
bandage at the beginning of the pressing. 

When cheeses are pressed singly, the bandage is 
placed inside of the hoop, and held there by means of 
a cylindrical tin form with a flaring band upon one 
end. The cylindrical part is long enough to reach 
the bottom of the hoop, and just large enough to fill 
it. The bandage, except an inch and a half or so of 
one end, is stretched . over the cylindrical part of this 



J 4-0 American Dairying. 

form, and the loose end of the bandage turned inside ; 
a cap-cloth is placed over the end of the form, which 
is then crowded to the bottom of the hoop. The loose 
end of the bandage is adjusted inward upon the cap- 
cloth, and the form filled with curd, which resting 
upon the inturned end of the bandage holds it in 
place while the form is withdrawn, leaving the curd, 
all except the upper part of it, within the bandage. 

When the curd has been pressed down so as to hold 
together, the hoop is removed, the bandage adjusted 
upon the upper end of the cheese, which is now turned 
upside down, and power again applied till the press- 
ing is done. When the gang press is used, the band- 
age is held in place by a metallic band coiled inside of 
the hoop in such a w^ay as to hold up the upper end of 
the bandage till the curd is pressed down to a solid 
form, when the pressure is released, the end of the 
bandage adjusted, and the power applied again without 
turning the cheese. 

For factories, the single screw press is fast going 
out of use, and the gang press, of which there are two 
patterns, (Eraser's and Beach's,) are taking its 
place. 

The time of pressing is usually about i8 hours, and 
the force applied from two to ten tons, according to 
the means of escape for whey, and the condition of 
the curd. Cold curd requires more pressure than 
warm, aud curds with smooth surfaces, more than 
those with rough and jagged ones. Curd which has 
been made fine by slicing, requires more pressure to 
make the smooth surfaces join firmly, than tl;iat which 
has been broken by hand, or passed through a crush- 
inof mill. 



Factory Cheese Making. j^i 

When placed in tlie curing room, cheese should 
stand till the surface becomes dry, and then be rubbed 
with whey butter or some similar grease, to prevent 
the surface from checking and cracking, and needless 
shrinkage by a too rapid escape of moisture. If the 
air in the room is very dry, an occasional greasing 
will be necessary, or the surface will become too dry. 
If the air is sufficiently moist, a daily turning and 
rubbing will only be needed. If too moist, so as to 
occasion much molding, the air should be changed by 
ventilation, and if necessary, dried by a fire. Cheese 
cures so much better in a moist than in a dry atmos- 
phere, it is better to let the air be as moist as it can be, 
and keep the cheese decent on account of mold. 
When not made just right, exudations sometimes 
accumulate on the surface, and make cheese appear 
rough and uncomely. To remove this, wash and rub 
occasionally with a weak ley made with water and 
potash, or by leaching a few wood ashes. The ley 
will saponify the grease, and soften the exudations, 
and if strong enough, the rind of the cheese also, and 
by repeated rubbing, will smooth and polish the sur- 
face, and fill up any cracks or checks which may 
chance to exist, thus guarding against the intrusion 
of flies. As the cheese-fly is averse to depositing 
its eggs in alkaline matter, washing the surface of 
cheeses with ley is the best known protection against 
that sometimes troublesome insect. When used for 
this purpose, the ley may be stronger. 

As the character of the cheesing process is varied 
by every variation in temperature and hygrometric 
condition of tlie room, it is important that the care 
taker should use every effort to keep the air in his 
cheese room even and in the proper condition in 



J ^2 American Dairying. 

respect to the temperature and moisture required for 
properly curing the cheese under his charge. If too 
hot and dry, sprinkle the floor often. If too cold or 
damp, build a fire, no matter when the occasion may 
occur. It is a common occurrence to meet with cheese 
in the ill-constructed curing rooms of the country, 
which have had their texture injured, and their flavor 
made insipid by exposure to an extreme heat, which a 
frequent sprinkling of water upon the floor would 
have kept down ; and others which, while green, have 
been made bitter, by being for a few days a little too 
cold, which might have been easily avoided by build- 
ing a few fires in the room. 

BOXING CHEESE FOR MARKET. 

For protecting cheese properly, the package should 
be strong, and fit the cheese snugly, but not so snugly 
that it will not readily come out if turned upside down. 
Both sides of the cheese should be protected with a 
scale-board, and loose covers avoided, and the sides 
trimmed down till the cover will touch the cheese. 
Very dry boxes absorb moisture from the cheese, and 
make a difference between factory and city weight. 
The boxes before receiving the cheese should be made 
damp enough to prevent this absorption. The cheese 
will be the better for it, and the boxes will be less 
liable to get split and broken, than if very dry. 

FARM DAIRY CHEESE MAKING. 

Where cheese is made in farm dairies, the single 
screw press and the self-heating vat will be found 
most convenient. The buildings and apparatus will 



Farm Dairy Cheese Making. j^j 

of course, be reduced in size, but when enough cheese 
is made upon farms for purposes of marketing, the 
same general principles and practices will apply which 
have been described for factories, and need not be 
again repeated. 

For those who make cheese from only a few cows 
for home use, and are not provided with a complete 
set of apparatus, a few words may be appropriate. 

For making cheese under any circumstances, a few 
things are absolutely necessary. One must have a 
vessel large enough to hold the milk. It may be any 
clean tub, boiler, or kettle. A wooden tub is best, 
because it will lose the least heat while standing. 
There must be means for warming, which can be sup- 
plied by a cook stove. Rennet for coagulating the 
milk must be provided and soaked beforehand. A 
strong hoop for pressing the curd, with a capacity of 
at least 6 cubic inches for every quart of milk used, 
and power for pressing equal to at least the weight of 
a ton. These being provided, warm the milk in any 
convenient way without burning, to about 84 degrees, 
and add rennet enough to have it begin to curdle in 
15 minutes, and cover the milk to keep it from cool- 
ing. The quantity of rennet to use must be found by 
trial. A good rennet well soaked and rubbed, in time 
willcurdle about 2,000 quarts of milk, but there is so 
much variation in their strength, that only an approxi- 
mation to the quantity required, can be made. When 
the cuKd has become so hard as to cleave before the 
finger when passed through it, it should be cut with a 
blade that will reach to the bottom of the vessel, into 
columns an inch or so square, and then covered again 
to let the whey separate. After it has stood i.s or 20 
minutes, the whey which can be conveniently removed, 



344- American Dairying. 

may be dipped off, and the curd carefully broken with 
the hands into pieces of the size of chestnuts, or even 
finer. When this is done, the whey which has been 
dipped off, or what is better, an equal bulli of water, 
heated to 150 degrees, may be turned into the curd 
and stirred enough to make all parts of the curd warm 
up alike. The curd should be again covered to prevent 
cooling, and left standing 15 or 20 minutes, or as long 
as it can be without sticking firmly together, when the 
whey may be again dipped off, the curd broken up 
fine again, and more hot whey or water turned on and 
mixed evenly with the curd by gently stirring, so as 
not to rile the whey and waste the richness of the 
curd. Cover the curd again, and repeat the operation 
till the mass is raised to blood heat. The stirring 
should be repeated often enough to prevent the pieces 
of curd from adhering, and the whole covered and 
left standing for the curd to harden. When it has 
stood so long as to become hard enough to squeak 
between the teeth, or spring apart readily when 
pressed in the hand, or what is better, to respond to 
the hot iron test, described on a subsequent page, tlie 
whey may be at once dipped off, and the curd drained 
on a strainer-cloth laid over something which will 
allow the whey to run away steadily, like a large 
sieve or a basket. When the curd has been stirred 
till it is freed from whey, and becomes a little cool 
and the large lumps broken up fine so it will all 
receive salt about alike, salt at the rate of ona ounce 
for each 10 quarts of milk. Mix the salt thoroughly 
through the curd, and then put to press. As soon as 
the curd is well stuck together so it can be handled 
safely, remove it from the press, put on a new press 
cloth, turn the under side up, fold the cloth evenly 



Farm Dairy Cheese Making. ^^5 

over it, and press again till the press is wanted for the 
next day's cheese. Upon taking it from the press, let 
it stand an hour or two till it becomes dry, then rub 
it over with some soft grease, and turn and rub daily 
till it is cured, which will be from 30 to 60 days. 
On small cheese for home use, no bandage will bo 
required. The surface must be greased often enougli 
to keep it from drying and checking. In making 
small cheese for home use, the press, though desirable, 
is not an absolute necessity. If a curd is properly 
made, it will form itself into a cheese of good texture 
by its own weight. In molding a cheese without 
pressing, the hoop should be made of perforated tin, 
so the whey can readily escape, and should have a 
cover of the same material for its top and bottom, 
shutting over and outside of the tin like the cover of 
a pill box, and should be only just about large enough 
to hold the curd to be molded. A cover is placed 
upon the lower end of the hoop, the warm curd filled 
in, and the cover put on the upper end, and set on 
any level foundation. After standing a few minutes, 
the hoop is turned quickly upon the other end, the 
curd slides down and makes a smooth surfacemen 
what was at first the upper end. By turning the hoop 
a few times while warm, both ends get an even sur- 
face, and then, by standing still, the curd will perma- 
nently adhere and remain firm when taken from the 
hoop. To succeed well in molding cheese without 
pressing, the curd should be taken from the whey a 
little sooner than otherwise, and be quickly drained 
and salted and put into the hoop quite warm. Cold 
curd will not adhere without pressing. 



APPENDIX. 



THE HOT IRON TEST. 

This test is used to determine when curd is sufficiently matured 
for pressing. It originated in 1845 with L. M. Norton, of Goshen, 
Conn., who was also the originator of pineapple cheese, and was 
for many years kept a secret. After awhile it became public and is 
now extensively used, and is the most accurate and reliable guide 
known for determining the precise stage in the ripening of curd 
at which it is proper to press it. 

To apply the test, have aa iron just hot enough to make water 
simmer when dropped upon it. Make a plug of curd and apply 
one end of it to the hot iron. If the curd is too immature it will 
not adhere to the iron ; if it is just right it will stick to the iron, 
and when pulled away will draw out in threads from ^ to ^ of 
an inch long. If too far advanced it will string out in very fine 
and long threads. 



TESTING MILK AT FACTORIES. 

As a protection against fraud in diluting or adulterating milk, 
every factoryman should be provided with a set of graduated 
glass tubes, which he can daily, or at short intervals, fill with milk 
from his different patrons, and observe and record the per cent, of 
cream which rises upon the milk in each. So long as the milk of 
every patron shows a fair proportion of cream, he need not make 
any further tests. Should the milk of any one show a deficiency 
of cream, tests should made to determine whether it has been 
tampered with. To do this take a sample of milk from one or 
more herds which is known to be pure, and reduce it to the tem- 
perature at which the lactometer is made to be used, and note 
whether the lactometer sinks in it to the point (P), which denotes 
pure milk. Do the same with the milk which showed a deficiency 
of cream, and note whether the point on the stem of the lactome- 
ter which stood at the surface in pure milk, sinks, or rises above 



Appendix. 



347 



the surface of the milk beinq^ tested. If the point P rises above 
the surface, it may be considered pure, because pure milk which 
is deficient in cream, is heavier than pure milk rich in cream. If 
it sinks below the surface, dilution may be predicted, because it 
is lighter instead of heavier than pure milk. Now take two per 
cent, glasses and fill one to the top graduated marks with pure 
milk, and the other with the suspected milk, and when the 
cream has fully raised on both, remove it, and insert the lactome- 
ter in the skim-milk in each, and note exactly how far it sinks in 
each, and make a record of the result, for future use, if it should 
be wanted. If it sinks lower in the suspected milk than in the 
pure, turn water into the pure milk till the lactometer sinks to the 
same point it did in the suspected milk, and note the per cent, of 
water added. The per cent, of water added, will show the per 
cent, of dilution. 



RENNET. 




In its general signification, ren- 
net applies to the preserved 
stomach of any young quadruped. 
As used by dairymen in the United 
States, the term signifies the 4th 
division of the stomach of the suck- 
ing calf. If the stomach of any 
other animal is meant, the name 
of the animal is added, as pig's 
rennet, lamb's rennet, &c. The 
same word is also used to signify 
the liquid in which the stomach has 
been steeped. The 4th division or 
part of the stomach used for coagu- 
lating milk, is the one next to the 
small intestines. The points for 
severing it are indicated by the 
letters a-b. 

The coagulating power of ren- 
nets varies in strength and quality 
with the age, health and habits of 
the animals from which they are 
taken. They are usually in their 
best condition when the calves are 
from five to ten days old, but they do not vary much in strength 
so long as the calves live entirely on milk. As soon as they 
begin to live upon solid food, the strength of their stomachs, 
as rennets, begins to abate. The stomachs of calves five days old 
are generally preferred by dairymen to those older or younger. 
To obtain the best rennets, the calves should be allowed to suck 



J ^8 American Dairying, - 

a moderate meal i8 or 20 hours before killing. It is a good way 
to give the last meal at night, and kill the next day near noon. 
Some let them go 24 hours, and even longer, and the rennets are 
the stronger for so doing ; but in going too long without eating, 
the stomach becomes inflamed and congested with blood, giving 
them a dark, reddish appearance, and the disturbed condition 
thus occasioned, is carried with ttie steepings of the rennet into 
the cheese, and afTects it unfavorably. The calves should live 
till the curd from their last meal is nearly dissolved, but no 
longer. As the curd disappears, the coagulating agent accumu- 
lates, not in the juices of the stomach, as might be supposed, but 
is deposited on the inside of the stomach, forming a delicate 
coating, faintly flesh colored and very tender, which breaks off in 
thin, flocculent scales upon slight friction. As this coating con- 
tains the concentrated strength of the rennet, it is desirable to 
preserve as much of it as possible. To this end, the sack, when 
taken from the animal, should be handled with great care. The 
contents should be emptied out carefully, sack turned inside out, 
and any specks of dirt or hairs that may appear on it, picked off. 
If further cleansing is necessary, it maybe wiped with a moist 
cloth, or very carefully rinsed by laying it in a dish of w^ater and 
moving it gently. Water should not be poured upon it. When 
sufficiently cleansed and lightly salted, it is ready for drying, 
which may be done in any convenient way, so that it shall not 
waste by dripping, nor injure by tainting. It may be stretched 
on a crotched limb, or bow of splint, its ends may be tied and in- 
flated, or it may be cut open and laid out on a dry board, which 
will aid in drying by absorbing its moisture. These modes of 
preserving are very much better than salting in a pickle, or filling 
with salt. If exposed 10 much heat, rennets lose strength quickly. 
But they are improved by freezing and thawing, and also by age, 
if kept open to the air. Rennets should not be used the same 
season they are saved. They are very much better for a year's 
age if they are kept open to the air so that the strong odor com- 
mon to green rennets can have time to be carried away. Their 
strength also increases .with age for a season or two at least. 
When prepared for use, they may be steeped in brine or whe}'. 
If in brine, it should be no stronger than is necessary to protect 
them against tainting, as much salt is detrimental to their action. 
If the water is not pure, it should be boiled before using. Whe)% 
both sweet and sour, is in common use. It should always be 
boiled to prevent carrying taints into the cheese, which arc 
always developing in the whey as now made in factories. Sweet 
whey has a fine effect upon the cheese, but sour whey is the best 
preservative, and if decidedly sour, is a better antiseptic than 
salt. Of whatever liquid is used, two quarts are enough for each 
rennet. Stone or earthen jars are the best vessels to prepare 
theni in, and the preparation should be carefully covered, as 
liquid rennet soon loses its strength by exposure to light. 

The first strength which soaks from the veils is better than the 



Appendix. j^g 



last. It is not only stronger, but it acts more vigorously upon 
the cream, so that it is better retained in the curd. It is very 
desirable to distribute the first soakings of the stomach through 
the whole of the sicepings, and to have them of uniform strength 
from first to last, to secure uniform results in curding. To secure 
this, two or more jars or casks will be necessary. Three are 
preferable. Fill a jar or cask with brine or whey, as before di- 
rected, and then take as many rennets as would last 15 or 20 days, 
and cut them open, (some cut them in small pieces),'tie them in a 
sack made of bandage cloth, and put them to soak in advance, 
for a batch to begin with, stirring and rubbing them every day, or 
oftener. Upon beginning to use this, put a second batch soaking 
in a second vessel in the same way, and take the sack from the 
first vessel and put in with it, marking it so it can be dis- 
tinguished. As the strength of the second vessel may be diflferent 
from that of the first, to prevent making any mishap on that 
account, begin using some, of the second before the first is 
exhausted, mixing more and more of the second with less of the 
first. In this way the strength in each jar will be readily known, 
and no mistake will be made in its use. Upon beginning to use 
from the second jar, take out the sack that was in the first, and 
after rinsing its contents, throw them away, fill it with new 
rennets, put to soak in a third j.ir, take the other sack from the 
second jar and put with it, and so continue through tlie season, 
always stirring the liquid before using. Careful inspection should 
be made in selecting rennets, to see that none that are tainted, or 
in any way objectionable, get into the jars to injnre the cheese. 
All dark colored or strong smelling ones should be avoided. In 
using the Bavarian rennets, the thick ends made by tying, are 
often tainted and should be trimmed off, and in American and 
Irish rennets, the small end of the stomach is often left too long, 
and becomes objectionable by reason of bad odors and filth, and 
had better be cut off. The action of the extreme end of the 
stomach is always very feeble, and of questionable utility at any 
time, and should never be used unless in perfect order. There 
is no good reason why the active agent in rennet may not be 
extracted cheaply, and in a state of perfect purity and freedom 
from the objectionable animal matter which now always goes 
with it, and in a concentrated state and of uniform strength. 
Such preparations are now made in Denmark and Switzerland, 
and must soon be brought into use in this country, but until some 
enterprising chemist shall discover a cheap method of making an 
extract that will supply this demand, we must use the native 
stomach, and I give the besf methods of utilising it, till its 
strength can be furnished in a better form. 



j^o American Dairying, 



PREPARING COLORING FOR CHEESE AND 
BUTTER. 

To prepare annattoine, take equal weights of annattoine, pure 
potash and sal soda, and dissolve each separately in four times 
its weight of water. When fully dissolved, mix all together and 
lei it stand four or five days for the alkali to cut the annattoine, 
stirring occasionally. It will then be ready for use. It is best 
kept in earthen jars. For cheese, \ pint to i,ooo lbs of milk give 
a deep golden color. For butter, i tablespoonful to 6 quarts 
of cream will give a deep color to pale butter. For either cheese 
or butter, find by trial, exactly the quantity required to produce 
the desired hue. 

TO PREPARE BASKpT ANNATTO. 

Make a strong ley by dissolving potash in water, and put in as 
much annatto as the ley will dissolve. Boil the solution and set 
by for the sediment to settle. Turn off the pure liquid for use. 
The sediment may be washed with ley, and the clear liquid used. 
Find by trial, the amount of liquid required to give the desired 
color. Basket annatto varies to6 much to admit of precise 
directions. 

Annatto seed may be prepared in a similar way. The seed 
should be several times rinsed in ley or hot water to extract all 
the coloring. 



BOARDS OF TRADE. 

Associated dairying naturally led to associated marketing, 
where salesmen could become posted as to the market value of 
their produetions, and thereby obtain better prices than by indi- 
vidual effort; consequently *' Boards of Trade," or "Sale Days" 
became necessary for the protection of the interests of dairymen. 

The first effort in this direction was made in 1870 by T. D. 
Curtis, then editor of the Utica Herald, who advocated the organi- 
zation of such Boards, in the Herald, and in a paper read before 
the New York Farmers' Club, December i6th of that year. Mr. 
C. issued the first call for establishing a local market, in the 
spring of 187 1. A week subsequent to the call of Mr. C, a 
similar one was issued at Little Falls, N. Y., calling for an earlier 
meeting, and at that meeting the first Dairymen's Board of Trade 
was established, which is now known as the N. Y. State Dairy- 
men's Association and Board of Trade. The call first issued 
matured a week later, and in obedience to it, was formed the 
National Dairymen's Club, now known as the Utica Dairymen's 
Board of Trade. The fruit of this enterprise thus inaugurated 



Appendix, j^t 

has resulted in great good to dairymen, and nnmerous institu- 
tions of a similar kind have since been established. In view of 
the importance and rapid multiplication of such Boards, I insert 
a blank form to aid in their organization : 

RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR A BOARD OF TRADE. 

ist. The pa^'ment of $5 to the Treasurer shall constitute a 

membership of the Board of Trade of the for 

one year. ^ 

2d. Members only shall be entitled to all the privileges of the 
salesroom. 

3d. There shall be a register kept and a bulletin board 
arranged in a conspicuous place in the room, for posting tele- 
grams and other information of interest received from other 
markets, and to which register and board all members shall be 
entitled to free access. Also all members shall have the privilege 
of posting upon said register a notice of any dairy or other pro- 
duce they may have for sale. 

4th. There shall be an officer appointed by the Club, whose 
duty it shall be to prctcure telegrams and other information 
deemed necessary b)^ the Club for the bulletin board ; to procure 
and issue tickets of membership ; and to have the general super- 
vision of the Salesroom. 

5th. There shall be a Board of Arbitration constituted for the 
purpose of settling all differences which may arise from time to 
time between buyers and sellers, and it is an express understand- 
ing that the decision of such Arbitration Committee shall be final. 
The said Board of Arbitration shall be chosen and constituted 
as follows : In case of difference between two parties or interests, 
the said parties or interests shall each choose one member of the 
Board, and the two members thus chosen shall select a third, and 
these three shall constitute the Board of Arbitration, and have 
appropriate jurisdiction. 

6th. All bargains between members made at the Salesroom or 
elsewhere, verbally or otherwise, shall be considered binding, and 
a failure of either party to perform his or their part shall be con-" 
sidered sufficient cause for expulsion from the Club and Sales- 
room. 

7th. For avoiding disputes respecting short weights, it is 
agreed that where a discrepancy is found in the weights of butter 
or cheese on arrival in market, a legally appointed weighmaster's 
certificate of such discrepancy, with expense of certificate attached, 
shall be considered a standard to settle by. 

8th. It is essential, that each of the foregoing rules be strictly 
observed by each member of the Club, and any violation of such 
rules shall be considered a sufficient reason for appointing a com- 
mittee to look into the facts, and report what action, in their 
opinion, ought to be taken by the Club to avoid a repetition of 
the same. 



j^2 American Dairying. 

gth. It is understood that where a factory has more than one 
salesman, either one or all of said salesmen shall be admitted on 
presenting the factory's ticket of membership, and that a bu3^er 
and his agent may be admitted on one ticket, whether owned by 
the principal or the agent. 

loth. It shall be proper for a member of this Board to be 
accompanied, when admitted to the Salesroom, by a neighbor or 
friend who is not interested in buying or selling, without additional 
charge ; but it is understood that this is a matter of courtesy, and 
any violation of good faith will be deemed a breach of the rules 
of the Board. • 

nth. The price of single admission to the Salesroom, with the 
privileges of the Board for the day, shall be fifty cents. 

r2th. Amendments to these rules and regulations may be 
made at any regular meeting of the Board, by a majority vote, 
provided notice of the proposed amendment has been duly given 
at a previous regular meeting. 



LIST OF APPARATUS. 

In response to numerous inquiries by parties contemplating the 
manufacture of cheese in factories and dairies, I give below a 
list of the apparatus with prices, as now commonly used in a 
factory of 400, and a dairy of 30 cows, from which an approximate 
estimate of cost for a larger or smaller establishment can be made. 
The total cost is, of course,' liable to vary by reason of change in 
prices and the introdution of new and improved apparatus, but it 
is believed that the tables will nevertheless be of value as an 
approximation to cost of outfit. The prices are for apparatus as 
now furnished by Gardner B. Weeks, of Syracuse, N. Y. : 

COMPLETE OUTFIT FOR A CHEESE FACTORY OF 
400 COWS. 

1 3-Horse Power Boiler, with fittings complete $190 00 

2 600 Gallon Vats, with inside steam pipes, at $85.00 170 00 

Steam pipe connections and fittings, $19 to 20 00 

16 Cheese Hoops, best Galvanized Iron, 15 inch, with followers, at $4.50. 72 00 

16 " Press Screws, at $4.00 6400 

(Or Gang Press, costing per Hoop, $14.83.) 

Timbers for Press frames can be made by any good mechanic, say 25 00 

Curd Drainers 15 00 

I 6o-Gallon Weigh Can, — large faucet 13 50 

1 Tin Conductor 2 50 

I 6oo-lb. Fairbank's Scales, with wheels, for weighing milk 28 00 

*i 140-lb. " " " cheese, &c 16 50 

1 Curd Knife, — 13 Blades, — 20 in. long 7 00 

*i " " Horizontal Blades, 6x20 in. long 700 

I Hoisting Crane,— complete 14 00 

I Sj'phon and large Strainer 3 50 

*ti Bandager—(it^° Patented) 

I Water Pail, extra heavy i 00 

I Curd " 125 

I '• Scoop 100 

I Dipper— gallon, extra heavy i 00 



Appendix. 353 

I Set Milk-Testing Instruments— comprising 3 Graduated Jars, 1 Lac- I 

tometer J 12 Cream Tubes I ^ ^ 

I Case Stencil Plate and Brush 60 

1 Factory " " about 1 50 

1 Set " " for dating cheeses 3 00 

2 Stone Rennet Jars — 15 Gallons, $4. 50 9 00 

2 Thermometers, at .50 i co 

I Factory Account Book — (as to size,) — say i 20 

1 " Slate — double 75 

1 Rubber Mop 50 

*i Floor Funnel i 00 

*i Curd Mill, double cylinder 23 00 

I Set Castors for Curd Sink 2 00 

*i Barwick Wrench 3 50 

*i Cheese Tryer— nickel-plated i 00 

*i Curd Agitator i 5° 

t* I Milk " Austin's (patent). 

*i Tinned Cheese Knife i 00 

In case a Factory fitted up as above for making cheese from 400 co\ts is con- 
verted into a Creamery where butter and cheese are made from the same milk, 
the following articles would be required : 

I 3-Horse Power Engine $i75 00 

I No, 9 Blanchard Churn 45 0° 

I Butter Worker : 25 co 

Cooler Pails,— as per time that milk is to set. It may be set in the 

Cheese Vats if only for 12 cr 24 hours — at 9° 

I Butter Mold i 00 

Ladles, Skimmer, Bowls, &c 3 c^o 

Articles marked with a * may be dispensed with, though very much used. 
Articles marked with a t are patented, and the right to use them must be 
obtained of the owners of the patent. 

FIXTURES FOR A CHEESE DAIRY OF 30 COWS 

1 i2o-Gallon Self-heating Vat, with hot water tank $82 00 

2 Cheese Hoops, 15 Inch, with followers, $4.50 9 0° 

2 ' ' Press Screws ^ 0° 

1 " Press, about 1000 

I Cuid Knife, 7x20 inches 4 25 

I " Pail 125 

I " Scoop I 00 

I Dipper 75 

1 Set Stencil Plates 3 00 

2 Thermometers at . 50 ^ "^ 

I Rubber Mop 5o 



FORM FOR ORGANIZING A DAIRY MANU- 
FACTURING COMPANY OR ASSOCIATON. 

We, the undersigned, hereby organize ourselves into an asso- 
ciation for the manufacture of (Cheese, or Butter, or both, as the 
case maj' be,) under the name and style of, (insert name, with P. 
O. address). It is agreed and understood that the stock of this 
association shall be divided into (number of shares, at the par 

valuation of % per share ;) and it is hereby understood 

and agreed that each shareholder shall contribute his pro rata 
share of expenses, and receive his pro rala share of all net profits. 



354 



A merican Dairying, 



All matters in the construction of the necessary buildings,'fur- 
nishing them, the hiring of help and the general management, 
shall be decided by vote of all shareholders present at a regular 
meeting, or at a special meeting of which all stockholders have 
been notified, the majority of stockholders represented determin- 
ing the result. A special meeting shall not be held without at 
least three days' notice being given by the president to each 
member, either verbally or by written notice left at his place of 
business. The officers of this association shall be a President, 
two Vice-Presidents, a Secretar)', a Treasurer, and an Executive 
Committee of three. The duties of the several officers shall be 
tiiose usual to such organizations. We also hereby agree to' 
abide by and observe all By-Laws, Rules and Regulations 
which may hereafter be adopted by a two-thirds vote of this asso- 
tiation,'at any regular meeting — that is, two-thirds of the shares of 
stock represented at such meeting cast in the affirmative. For 
the faithful performance of all which we hereby subscribe our 
names, this the day of , i8 — . 



{fi) The parts separated in making cheese are shown by the 
following analyis made in Cornell University under the direction 
of Prof G. C. Caldwell: 





I 


2 


3 . 


4 


5 


6 


7 


Water 

Fat 

Ash 

Protien 


34.18 
33-92 

3-02 

28.88 


29.82 

35-80 


35-24 

35.68 

2.84 

26.24 


29.19 
37-24 


30-49 

3925 

3-00 

27.26 


28.11 

4103 

2.68 

28.18 


4056 

20.53 

7-05 

34.86 



No. I was a factory cheese three days old, made at North 
Bridgewater, N. Y., July, 1875. No 2, same five months old. 
No. 3 was a factory cheese one week old, made by Hon. Wm. A. 
Johnson, at Collins Centre, N. Y., August, 1875. No. 4, same 
four months old. No 5 was nine months old, made of half Jersey 
milk, at Winthrop Factory, Maine, Aug. 24th, 1874. No. 6 was 
well cured and made of all Jersey milk at same factory, Sept. 
i6th, 1875. No. 7, also margarine cheese, six months old, made 
at McLean, N. Y. 



"a-ET THE BEST."..«1 

THE liAMUMi CHURN 

As now ofFereas-to the trade and to the practical Dairyman, is the 
result of over twenty-five years' experience and experiment. It 
has been proved, and improved, and approved, during the past 
quarter of a century, and is now unquestionably 

The Leading Churn of the Country ! 

ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND 

Are now in successful operation. They are for sale in every State 
and Territory of the Union, and many foreign countries. They 
always sell the best where they have been used the longest. They 
combine more desirable qualities than any other Churn now made. 
No other Churns are made of as good materials, or as faithfully. 
WE CHALLENGE COMPARISON. They cannot get out of 
order, because they are so simple. Because they are so simple, 
and thoroughly made, they are very durable. They have no cog- 
wheels or gearing to wear out or break. They work the butter 
free from butter-milk in the churn, without any change of dasher, 
quicker and better than it can be done by hand. They work in 
the salt in the same way. They are PERFECT AUTOMATIC 
BUTTER MAKERS. Seven Sizes Made. 

No. 3 — For about 2 gallons of cream $6 00 

No. 4— " 4 " " 700 

No. 5— " 8 " " 800 

No. 6 — *' 12 *' " 1000 

No. 7— " 18 " *' 1200 

No. 8 — For from 50 to 75 gallons of cream 40 00 

No. 9 — " 75 to 150 " " 45 00 

Power Pulley for any size Churn 2 50 

If they do not give satisfaction, or prove to be as represented, 
they may be returned to the agent of whom they are purchased, 
at our expense. 

The Factory sizes (Nos. 8 and 9) are found to be exactly what 
is needed in large Dairies or Factories, where power is used. 
They have the unqualified commendation of every one who has 
used them. Send to any dealer in really Jirsi-class dairy imple- 
ments for our goods. They all keep them. 

We furnish free, on application, our " New Butter Manual," and 
Descriptive Circulars. Send for them, " Get the Best." 

•sole manufacturers, 

PORTER BLANCHARD'S SONS, 

Ooncord, IST. I-I. 

355 



THE 

DAIRY ROOM 

OF THE WORLD, 

AND 

THE ONLY PERFECT SYSTEM OF COOL- 
ING AND VENTILA TING A UTOMA TIC- 
ALLY, AND MAINTAINING THE 
SAME TEMPERA TURE SUMMER 
A ND WINTER, WITHO UT 
THE USE OF AIR, 



PATENTED JANUARY, 1S76, BY 

J. WILKINSON, Baltimore, Md. 



,^^*Send 25 Cents and Stamp for full description. 
Address, until November next, J. WILKINSON, 
Chief Superintendent of the Agricultural Depart- 
ment International Exhibition, Philadelphia, Pa. 

SELE-LOADn& HAY WA&OI. 



THIS MACHINE is warranted to load onfe ton of hay in two 
minutes, and drops it out upon the barn floor, or beside the 
stack, "without stopping tlie team, only to hook a chain. Price ^ 
$200. Price of wagon without any iliachine % 100. 

Address, H. p. BCJRDICK, Alfred, Allegany Co.. N.Y, 



WHITMAN & BURRELL, Little Falls, N.Y. 

Send for complete Illustrated Circular of all Apparatus and 
Furnishings for 

CHEESE AJSm BUTTER FACTORIES ! 

New Method of Manufacture Given. • 

General Agents for the Celebrated Blanchard Churn, French 
Burr-Stone Grist Mills, &c. 
We manufacture largely CHEESE-BOX HOOPS, Rims and 
Heading, and ship in bundles ready to make up into CHEESE- 
BOXES, TOBACCO DRUMS, &c. 

Economizer Improved Boiler Ss^ Engine. 

The Only Boiler for Dairymen and Farmers. 

Highest award of the Committee on Boilers for Cheese Factory 
purposes, at the American Dairymen's Convention, a very large 
assemblage, at Rome, to the Economizer, over all others on ex- 
hibition. The best Portable Steam Engine in market. Boiler all 
wrought iron. Every part made upon honor. All bearing pnrts 
made to take up wear. Engine warranted of best iron and steel. 
Nothing cheap but price. Fire passes underneath boiler- to the 
back, thence through the flues and up the stack. 

Prices. — Three-horse Power, $350 ; Four-horse Power, 
Five-horse Power, $450; Eight-horse Power, $575. 

C ^ULJLA THE ONLY RE- ^^^^ 

^^^Sn TURN FLUE ^^^f 



Agricultural 
ENaiNE 

Yet Introduced. 



a 



complete with spark arrester. 

[Refer to page 107 in Report on Factory Apparatus, in Annual 
Report of American Dairymen's Association, for 1876.] 

HIGHEST PREMIUMS at twenty-two important Fairs and 
Expositions, including American Institute test of three months — 
'73 and '74 — for portable Boilers and Engines. 

It is the most economical yet powerful Agricultural Engine 
in the market. It has No Fire Tile to Shake Loose or get 
broken. The Fire is right in the Center oe the Water it- 
self — ALL THE Heat is Utilized. It can not scale up, and will 
last a life-time. There can be no possibility of sparks, for the fire 
goes to the rear end, then back to the front through the return 
flues, so that all sparks are entirely consumed. ^^A careful 
examination will convince any party of its great superiority. 

2^"EVERY article OF OUR MANUFACTURE FULLY GUARANTEED. 



WELLS, RICHARDSON & CO.'S 

PERFECTED BUTTER COLOR. 

WE TAKE PLEASURE in offering to the Dairymen of 
America this preparation, as the perfect result of our long 
continued experiments in the preparation of an Artificial color 
for their use. 

In our Perfected Butter Color, we have succeeded in combining 
the bright yellow coloring principle of the Dandelion blossom 
with the previously well known "Golden Extract," thereby se- 
curing a bright golden tint, so exactly like the highest grade of 
June butter, that uo expert can detect it, even by actual compari- 
son of the artificial with the natural color. 

We claim for it every point wanted in a PERFECT Butter 
color, viz : 

1st PERFECT COLOR. The butter never turns to a reddish 
tinge, but always keeps its bright golden color. 

2d. PERFECT FREEDOM FROM ANY TASTE OR 
SMELL, that can be imparted to the butter. 

3d. PERFECT KEEPING QUALITIES. It does not mold, 
sour, or spoil in any manner. Heat or cold have no effect upon 
it. It has a decided tendency to preserve butter, whereas butter 
colored with carrots, annatto, etc., will often spoil or turn to a 
dull reddish tint. 

4th. PERFECT ECONOMY IN USE. It requires no labor, 
as it is a fluid that is put with the cream into the chnrn. It is 
cheaper than any other coloring, being put up in three sizes, 
selling at 25 cents, 50 cents and $r.oo, which color respectively 
300, 750 and 2.000 pounds of butter. We warrant it to add at 
least five cents per pound to the value of white butter, a return of 
one dollar for every cent it costs. 

IMPORTANT PROPOSITION. 

In order to give every one an opportunity to give this color a 
trial, we will send samples sufficient to color 50 pounds, post 
paid, to any address, on receipt of ten cents. Address, 

WELLS, RICHARDSON & CO., Burlington, Vt. 



WELLS, RICHARDSON & CO.'S 
GOLDEN EXTRACT of ANNATTO. 

A liquid extract of Annatto, pure, brilliant, permanent, econo- 
mical. The best color for cheese, far surpassing in Strength, 
Purity, Quality and durability of Color and Cheapness, any pro- 
duct, liquid or otherwise, ever offered to Dairymen. 

Its strength is extraordinar)'^ — one gallon giving a good color 
to 20,000 lbs. of cheese, or more. The color is uniform, and per- 
manent, and just that bright shade best adapted to the English 
market It is cheaper for cheese makers than any other coloring. 
Send for circulars giving full particulars. 



THE AMERICAN DAIRY SALT COMPANY, 

SOLE MANUFACTURKRS OF THE 

"S- DAIRY & TABLE SALT 

J^T SXR^^CUSE, IV. Y., 

Respectfully call the attention of Dairymen and others to the 

quality of the Salt now being manufactured by them. Having for many years 
past been engaged in perfecting the various processes for the manufacture of this 
Salt, and by adopting the best modes and machinery for the purpose, they feel 
warranted in saying to the consumer that the article now produced is superior to 
any other, either of foreign or domestic production. The following is a coneci 
analysis of our Salt, and also of the celebrated Ashton's English Salt, made by 
C-has. A. Goessmann, Ph. D., Professor of Chemistry in the Massachusetts Agri- 
cultural College at Amherst, Mass.: 

Ashton Salt. Onondaga Factory Filled. 

Chloride of Sodium 97-65 98.28 

Sulphate of Lime 1.43 0.91 

Sulphate of Magnesia 0.05 .06 

Chloride of Magnesia 0.06 .00 

Sulphate of Soda .00 .03 

Insoluble matter .05 .12 

Water .76 .60 

100.00 100.00 

Circulars in regard to various tests made with this Salt in comparison with the 
best foreign article, also certificates from a large number of the best dairies in this 
State as to its quality, may be had on application to J. W. BARKER, Secretary, 
Syracuse, N.Y., to whom orders for Salt may also be addressed. It is also for sale 
by Agents of the Company in principal Western Lake Ports ; by ROBT. GEER, 
No. 109 Pier, Albany, N.Y., and by Salt Dealers generally throughout the State of 
New York. Inquire for ONONDAGA FACTORY FILLED DAIRY SALT. 
J. W. BARKER, Pres't and 8ec'v, 
THOS. MOLLOY, Treas. SYRACUSE, JV. Y. 



4i^ 



^^ 



(See Prof. Arnold's Opinion, page 257. 




HARDIN'S 




^ CIRCULARS FREE. 

^ -1 Address, 

^ L S. HARDIN, 

Louisville f Ky, 



Adams' Patent Butter Case 

NORBIS 4& BRO., Brojjvietors, 



31 Prospect St,, 



CLEVELAND, O. 



For price, terms, or other information in regard to this Butter 

Package, address as follows : 
For New York and Eastern States — 

LEWIS T. HAWLEY, Syracuse, N. Y. 
Hon. HARRIS LEWIS, Frankfort, N.Y. 
For Illinois and Iowa — 

C. C. BUELL, Rock Falls, III. 
And for all other States and Territories, the Proprietors. 

ORDERS FOR 

CHOICE TABLE BUTTER, 

Packed in these Cases, promptly filled and shipped to any 
part of the world with safety. 

NORRIS & BRO., Proprietors. 

CHARLES MILLAR 8c SON, 

MANUFACTURERS OF 

Cheese & Butter-Making' Apparatus, 

Combining all the Latest Improvements. Dealers l\ 

Cheese Factory & Dairy Furnishing Goods, 

Send for Illustrated Circular and Price List. 

127 & 129 GENESEE STREET, UTICA, N. Y. 

|^°Our New Portable Boiler and Engine, "THE IRON 
SLAVE," is the best in America. 

3IIDDA UQH'S MILK TESTER. 

Thisisan instrument 
for testing the value and 
quality of milk It will tell 
if milk has been skimmed, 
watered, or taken from a 
cow that has garget or any 
other disease that will affect 
the quality of the milk. It 
is simple in construction 
and operation, and is rapid- 
ly going into use in the best 
Butter and Cheese Factor- 
ies in the country. 
Instruments and Rights to use sold by 




ALVIN MIDDAUGH, Friendship. N. Y. 

W 285 8k , 



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HECKMAN 

BINDERY INC. 

#1984 
N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 



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